Sinnoh Adventures
by FortuneDP
Summary: <html><head></head>Dawn, Lucas, and Barry are all starting on on their journeys. Dawn and Lucas are traveling together, but Team Galactic certainly doesn't like that! With Sinnoh threatened, the trio must work together to save the region... or maybe even the world.</html>
1. Chapter 1

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places or other things in this story… whoever made Pokémon does. If only I did actually own Pokémon…like that'll ever happen. By the way, this is based on the game and anime.

Chapter One

Dawn sat up in her bed and yawned, before finally glancing at the clock. "8:30. I'd better get up." As the blue-haired girl got out of bed and got dressed in her usual long red coat with a scarf and a white hat with the Poké ball insignia, a boy with blond hair suddenly dashed into her room and barged her over.

"Oww!" Dawn complained as she sat up, rubbing her head. Her hat had flown off, and was sitting neatly on her bed. She retrieved it, before turning to her childhood friend. "Barry, why are you here at 8:30?"

Barry looked at her like she was insane. "Why am I here? The question is why are you _not_ outside? Dawn, today is the day that we get our _starter Pokémon!_"

Dawn gasped. How could she have forgotten? Quickly scrambling for her desk drawer, she yanked out a white postcard giving the directions to Sandgem Town, where Professor Rowan's lab was. Today was the day that she was to get her first Pokémon and start on her Pokémon journey.

"Sorry, Barry, I totally forgot! You go get ready, and I'll be there soon!"

Barry nodded and said, "Alright, but if you're not at my house in 10 minutes, I'm fining you all of your money!"

Dawn rolled her eyes. Barry streamed out of Dawn's room, as Johanna, Dawn's mother, looked in. "What was that whirlwind?"

Dawn laughed and ran downstairs, where her mother had already prepared breakfast for her. Sitting down, she tried to gobble down the meal quickly. Johanna grinned.

"So," said Johanna, "what Pokémon do you think you'll pick?"

"I hink I migh choo Piplu," replied Dawn, her mouth full. Johanna glared at her daughter.

"Dawn, what have I said about talking with your mouth full?"

Dawn gulped down the remnants of her breakfast and grinned apologetically. "Sorry."

"Sorry is right," said Johanna. "Anyways, what did you say?"

"I said that I think I might choose Piplup."

"Ah, the Water-type, correct?"

Dawn nodded and grabbed her bag. "See you later, Mom, gotta go, Barry's gonna fine me if I'm late!"

"Come back soon! And Barry never actually fines people, you know that!" replied Johanna.

"It's best to be safe!"

Dawn grabbed her pink bike and pedaled to Barry's house, where he was waiting. The two trundled down the path to Sandgem Town on their bikes as Johanna watched them go. That certainly brought back memories of when she was a Coordinator when she was younger!

"You were late! Give me all of your money!"

Dawn simply pedaled faster.

"Hey! Don't just ignore me! Listen, I'm going to be the best Pokémon trainer ever! I'll beat the Elite Four and the Champion! I'll be the best in the world! So you'd better start listening to me!"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Barry, I wouldn't really care if you become the best Pokémon trainer in the _universe_, because I want to be Top Coordinator, not Champion of the Elite Four."

Barry gaped. "What? You're going to go for Contests instead of Gym Badges?"

Dawn shrugged. "Who knows? I might end up doing both."

The two continued their conversation as they rode into Sandgem Town. Dawn pulled out her postcard with a map and the three starter Pokémon of Sinnoh.

"Alright, we'll turn left here, and then right there, go straight, follow that road, turn right again, and we should get to Professor Rowan's lab in no time!"

After thirty minutes of confused and frustrated biking all over the town, the two, exhausted after speeding around the city trying to find the Professor's lab, sighed.

"Nice directions, Dawn." said Barry, who was pushing his bike instead of riding it.

"Hey, we would have gotten there if you didn't say turn left when we had to turn right!" retorted Dawn, who was also pushing her bike.

The two continued to bicker until they suddenly bumped into a man with white hair and a mustache. The man turned around at the sudden impact, glaring at the two.

"Really, you must watch where you are going! Do you not have eyes?" he said, infuriated.

"Oh, sorry sir." Dawn quickly said, refusing to let Barry speak (knowing that he would probably just get them into more trouble).

"And who would you two be, anyways?" the man asked, calmer. He saw the postcards in their hands. "Ah, you must be the two new trainers, Dawn and Barry. Good, we were wondering where you were. You're both twenty minutes late. In fact, I had just come out to search for you. Come with me, and I'll take you to my lab."

Barry gaped. "Wait, your lab? Are you Professor Rowan?"

"Yes, I am. Now, come. You wouldn't want to miss out on getting your starter Pokémon, now would you?"

The two immediately fell into step behind the Professor. At the lab, scientists waited respectfully as the trio entered. Professor Rowan led Barry and Dawn to a table with three Pokémon on it, as a boy with navy blue hair and a beret, who looked to be the same age as Dawn and Barry, ran to meet the Professor.

"Professor, are these the two new trainers?" the boy asked.

"Yes, and I'll leave it up to you to direct them. I will be back shortly."

"Yes, Professor."

The boy bowed slightly as the Professor left. Dawn immediately got the sense that this boy was rather polite. She stifled a small giggle. Well, she had to admit that he was kind of cute, with that messy navy blue hair and that red beret. She noted that it also had the Poké ball insignia on the side of it, like her own hat. As she looked at him fully, she saw that he wore a red long-sleeved shirt with a blue coat over it, a white scarf, identical to the one she was wearing, and black pants.

The boy bowed slightly to the pair. "Hello, my name is Lucas. I'm the Professor's assistant."

Dawn bowed back. "My name is Dawn, and this is my friend Barry," she said, introducing the two of them.

Lucas nodded. "It's nice to meet you. Now, I'll explain about the starter Pokémon we have here," he said, gesturing towards the table where the three were placed on. Currently, they were all eating from a bowl of Pokémon food.

Lucas pointed at the three Pokémon in turn and said their names. "This is Chimchar, this is Piplup, and this is Turtwig. Chimchar is a Fire-type, Piplup is a Water-type, and Turtwig is a Grass-type. You can choose whichever one you like."

Dawn immediately felt attached to the small blue penguin-like Pokémon called Piplup. "I'll choose Piplup as my partner," she said. Upon hearing this, the Pokémon in question stopped eating and strutted in what little space it had.

Barry immediately chose the fire monkey, Chimchar. Lucas smiled at them both.

"If you two could wait a while, the Professor will be back with some supplies."

Dawn nodded, but Barry said, "Ah, who needs supplies? See you, Dawn! I'm heading for Jubilife City first! You snooze you lose!"

And with that, Barry rushed out of the lab just as the Professor came back.

"Ah, I see that you have chosen Piplup, Dawn. And where did the other one go?" Professor Rowan asked after glancing around the lab to check for Barry.

"Sorry, Professor. Barry left just before you came back," said Dawn.

The Professor chuckled. "Well, that's a shame. Dawn, I've got a Pokédex and five Poké Balls for you. Also, here is your sixth Poké Ball, which is Piplup's." Professor Rowan handed a pink Pokédex and the six Poké Balls over to Dawn, who took them and simply said, "Wow!"

Lucas smiled once again, and was about to leave, when the Professor called him back.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Lucas, Dawn, since you both are Pokémon trainers, I expect you to catch and see as many Pokémon as you can, and then bring me data for my research."

Dawn turned to Lucas. "Wait, you're a Pokémon trainer too? What's your starter Pokémon?"

Lucas took a Poké Ball from his belt and tossed it after maximizing it. A Turtwig popped out in a flash of white light.

"Oh, Dawn, you can check any Pokémon's data on your Pokédex. Simply point your Pokédex at a Pokémon, or search up a Pokémon's name to find data. Try it with Piplup and Turtwig," the Professor said.

Dawn nodded, and opened her Pokédex. She pointed it at Turtwig, and it said, in a mechanical voice, the data listed for Turtwig.

_Turtwig, the Tiny Leaf Pokémon:_

_The shell on its back is made of soil. On a very healthy Turtwig, the shell should feel moist._

Dawn exclaimed, "Awesome!" before pointing it at Piplup.

_Piplup, the Penguin Pokémon:_

_A poor walker, it often falls down. However, its strong pride makes it puff up its chest without a care._

Dawn folded the Pokédex, and called Piplup back into his Poké Ball, as Lucas did the same with Turtwig. Professor Rowan then spoke again.

"Since you two are both going to help me, and travel around the Sinnoh region, which can be difficult, why don't you travel together? It's best if you have a travel partner with you, just for safety reasons."

Dawn glanced at Lucas. "It's fine with me, if Lucas is okay with it. Oh, and my mom has to agree too."

The Professor nodded in approval. "Alright, you two had best be off. You should go back home first though, Dawn. Spend the night at your house and set off tomorrow. First place after that to get to would be Jubilife City, of course, and then Oreburgh City, where a Pokémon Gym is located."

Dawn suddenly piped up, "Professor, um, I'm actually going to be competing in Contests, not Gym Battles."

The Professor looked surprised. "Oh, really? Oh, but of course, I forgot that your mother is Johanna, the famous Coordinator. Alright, I believe there will be a contest soon in Oreburgh City, so you two can both still go."

Dawn nodded. "Thank you for giving me Piplup, Professor. I'll be heading back home now."

The Professor nodded. "Alright. I suggest that you two meet at 9:00 to start the trek to Jubilife City. You both have bikes, so it shouldn't take too long to get there."

Dawn nodded again. "Alright, good-bye, Professor! See ya, Lucas!"

And with that, she exited the lab. Grabbing her bike, she pedaled back to Twinleaf Town, where her mother was waiting with Glameow.

"Hello, Dawn. What starter did you choose?"

"I chose Piplup!"

Johanna nodded. "I suppose you'll be leaving tomorrow then?"

Dawn nodded. "I'm going to be traveling with Lucas."

Johanna looked at her, frowning. Dawn explained. "Lucas is Professor Rowan's assistant. The Professor suggested that we travel together, so we will. Are you okay with it?"

Johanna nodded. "Alright, time for you to get ready for tomorrow. Pack everything yet?"

Dawn sighed. "Mom, I packed everything four days ago."

Johanna smiled. "Good, then you had better get to sleep, or you'll be late tomorrow!"

Dawn was already up the stairs. "Good night, Mom!"

"Good night, sweetie." Johanna looked at Glameow. "Think she'll be okay?" Glameow purred gently in response. Johanna sighed. "I suppose so."

Meanwhile, Dawn was in bed staring at the ceiling. _I can't believe it! I'm starting my Pokémon journey tomorrow morning!_ And with those last thoughts, she fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Two

Dawn woke up at 8:00 in the morning, excited to get going on her journey. Her mother was already up, waiting with breakfast when Dawn made her way down the stairs.

"Good morning, Dawn. Are you excited?"

Dawn nodded eagerly. "Of course! By the way, do we have any extra Pokémon food? I need to feed Piplup, and I don't want to use any that I packed already."

Johanna checked the cupboards. "Here's a can with some." She handed it to her daughter, who called out Piplup and emptied the can into a small bowl.

"Eat up, Piplup! We're going to leave soon, and you need lots of energy!"

"Pip-pip, lup!" Piplup said.

Dawn sat down and ate her own breakfast, as her mother interrogated her.

"Did you pack a sleeping bag? An extra blanket? Enough clothes? Enough food? Enough Pokémon food?"

Dawn looked at her mother exasperatedly. "Mom, I've got everything! You're the one who packed it all, remember?"

"Oh right, I forgot. Alright, sweetie. It's just that I keep thinking that you'll forget something—"

"If I do, it's your fault," interjected Dawn, pointing out the fact rather rudely.

"—and you'll have to run back home to get it, and that would be a disaster. However…" Johanna walked into another room. When she came back, she brought a wrapped box with her. "I've got a present for you!"

"Really? Thanks, Mom!" Dawn grabbed the box, ripped off the wrapping paper, and exclaimed at the present. It was a small chest with two drawers. "Wow, Mom, a Poffin Case! Awesome!"

As Dawn inspected the case, Johanna reminded her. "Remember, different Pokémon have different tastes. Don't feed a Pokémon the incorrect Poffin."

"I know, Mom."

Johanna glanced at the clock. "Well, it's 8:50. You'd better get to Professor Rowan's lab."

Dawn nodded. "Right! Bye Mom! Bye Glameow."

Johanna waved as Dawn grabbed her bike and pedaled down the road to Sandgem Town again. Glameow purred gently.

As Dawn neared the Pokémon Lab, she saw Lucas and Professor Rowan outside waiting for her.

"Ah, good morning Dawn," the Professor said. Lucas smiled at her.

"Hi, Professor."

"Well, I suppose that you two had better get going. I'll be expecting reports every now and then though."

Lucas nodded. "Yes sir. Bye, Professor!"

"Bye!" said Dawn, as they got onto their bikes. Professor Rowan waved and said,

"Make sure you scan every Pokémon that you see!"

As they were biking, Dawn started to talk. "Isn't this going to be so exciting? Competing in Contests!"

"Actually, I'm going to compete in Contests and Gyms," Lucas said.

"Really? I'm still thinking whether I should compete in Gym Battles or not."

"It all really just depends on what you want to do. Oh, and before I forget, here are some extra things." The two stopped on the road, and Lucas fished two items from his bag. "Here."

In his hand were a Ribbon and Badge Case. Dawn took them. "Thanks, Lucas, but why are you giving me a Gym Badge Case?"

Lucas shrugged. "Just in case you decided to go for Gym Badges too."

After a short period, Dawn piped up again.

"Hang on… Where'd you get the Ribbon Case?"

Lucas shrugged. "I got it when I was talking about Contests with Nurse Joy. She gave me another when I mentioned you."

The two once again set off for Jubilife City, stopping every now and then for a break. By noon, the two had made good time and were nearly halfway to Jubilife.

"You know, why don't we stop for lunch?" asked Lucas. Dawn agreed, and the two stepped off into the grass next to them. Dawn grabbed her bag with all of her food, while Lucas did the same. The two released their Pokémon, and filled two bowls with Pokémon food.

"Here, Turtwig. Eat up!"

"Piplup, here you go!"

The two Pokémon dug in energetically as Dawn and Lucas ate their lunch as well. Multiple Pokémon showed up around them, attracted by the smell of food.

"Hey look! A Bidoof!" Dawn said. She pulled out her Pokédex and scanned it quickly.

_Bidoof, the Plump Mouse Pokémon:_

_A comparison revealed that Bidoof's front teeth grow at the same rate as Rattata's._

Lucas chuckled. "You know, Dawn, Bidoof aren't exactly the rarest Pokémon out there. There's plenty more to see."

"I know, I know. It's just that I'm really excited. Hey, look! What's that?" Dawn pointed her Pokédex towards a small Bug-type Pokémon.

_Kricketot, the Cricket Pokémon:_

_Its legs are short. Whenever it stumbles, its stiff antennae clack with a xylophone-like sound._

Dawn stared, fascinated. "So that's a Kricketot! It's so cute!"

Lucas chuckled. "If you want to catch that Kricketot, then you could battle it and try to capture it with one of the Poké Balls Professor Rowan gave you."

Dawn shook her head. "I don't think I really want a Kricketot right now. Who knows, maybe in the future?" They continued their lunch, and when they were finished, Dawn suddenly stood. "Lucas, I want to have a battle with you!"

Lucas looked surprised. "You do?"

Dawn nodded. "After all, a good way to train is just simply to battle, right?"

Lucas grinned. "More like the only way. Alright then, I agree. Since we only have Turtwig and Piplup, this'll be a one-on-one Pokémon battle, okay?"

"Alright! Piplup, you up for a battle with Turtwig?" Dawn asked. Piplup looked up and exclaimed, "Pip!"

"How 'bout you, Turtwig?" The small turtle-like Pokémon nodded in response.

The two trainers stood a good distance apart, and sent out their Pokémon.

"Oh, Dawn, before I forget, you can check your Pokémon's moves with your Pokédex."

"Really? I'll check Piplup's moves then."

Dawn pulled out her Pokédex and scanned Piplup. "Let's see… Piplup knows how to use Pound, Growl and Bubble."

"I'll warn you," said Lucas, "that Turtwig is stronger than Piplup because I've trained Turtwig a little, and I also have the type advantage here."

"I know you do! But I want to see what a real battle is like!"

"Okay, then. Let's begin!"

Dawn commanded Piplup first. "Piplup, use Bubble!" The Pokémon responded immediately by firing off some clear bubbles from its beak.

"Turtwig, counter using Razor Leaf!"

"Turt!" Turtwig swung its head as small, spinning leaves flew towards the bubbles, popping them and flying towards Piplup.

Dawn thought fast on how to stop the leaves. Suddenly she realized an option. "Piplup, use Growl to stall those leaves!" Piplup used the attack, which distorted the air around it, causing the Razor Leaf to slow down and fall to the ground.

"Nice tactic, Dawn, using Growl to counter Razor Leaf. That would probably work against some other attacks to."

Dawn clapped her hands together. "Now, Piplup, use Bubble once again, and follow up with Pound!"

"Pip!" Firing off bubbles again, Piplup ran towards Turtwig with a glowing arm.

"Turtwig, wait until Piplup is close, and then use Withdraw!"

"Huh? What's Withdraw?" Dawn asked. But then she saw that Turtwig had hidden inside of its shell, which protected it from the bubbles as well as Piplup's Pound. She gaped. "How did that happen?"

Lucas laughed at her expression. "Dawn, Withdraw is a move that lets the user raise its defense, or block attacks, depending on which one you need. Right now, Piplup can't do anything against Turtwig unless Turtwig comes out of its shell."

"Oh no! Piplup, back down, quick, before he uses an attack!" Piplup started to retreat, but Lucas quickly commanded Turtwig.

"Turtwig, use Absorb on Piplup, now!

A red beam flew out of Turtwig's shell, giving a direct hit on Piplup. "Oh no, Piplup!" The penguin Pokémon fell to the ground, and fainted. Dawn ran to Piplup and picked it up. "Good job, Piplup. Now return," Dawn said calling Piplup back into its Poké ball.

Lucas walked over with Turtwig. "Return, Turtwig," Lucas said, and Turtwig was called back into its Pokéball as well. "Well, now you know what a battle is like."

"Yeah. That was really fun!"

Lucas smiled. "It gets better when your Pokémon learn more moves to use against your opponent. Piplup can learn a lot of other moves."

"Really? Well, then, I guess I had better get training! Plus, I need to figure out good combinations and catch other Pokémon for Pokémon Contests!"

"But we still need to get to Jubilife City soon and catch and see more Pokémon for the Professor."

Dawn nodded. "Well, then, what's keeping us?

The two packed their bags and pedaled their way to Jubilife City, where splendors awaited them indeed.


	3. Chapter 3

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon and I never will!

Chapter Three

"Finally! Jubilife City!" Dawn leapt off her bike and ran in a quick circle to celebrate their arrival in Jubilife City. The pair had arrived as the sun was setting in the distance. The huge bustling city was quite different from Sandgem Town and Twinleaf Town. Lucas grinned.

"All that traveling to get to this rowdy place? Jeez!"

Dawn rolled her eyes in response. "Come on. Let's get to the Pokémon Center to book a room for the night." Lucas nodded, and the two walked to the Jubilife City Pokémon Center, which stood in the middle of the town.

As they walked in, Nurse Joy greeted them. "Hello! Welcome to the Pokémon Center. Who would you two be?"

"I'm Lucas, and this is Dawn. We'd like to book a room for the night, please."

"Of course, no problem!" Nurse Joy handed them a key to a two-bed room in the Center. "Oh, also, you're Dawn, right?"

"Yeah," Dawn said.

"Well, I have a package here for Dawn and Lucas of Twinleaf Town and Sandgem Town, sent by someone named Johanna. She asked me to give it to you." Nurse Joy brought out a small box. "Here you go!"

Dawn took it and thanked Nurse Joy, before the two decided to go to their room. Inside of the room were two beds and a small table. "Let's see what my mom gave us!" Dawn tore open the package to find two pamphlets. They were Town Maps, one for Dawn and one for Lucas. "Awesome! Here Lucas, take this one."

Lucas accepted the Town Map, and stored it neatly in one of his bag's pockets, as Dawn did the same. "At least we won't get lost anymore, like you did when you and Barry were trying to get to Professor Rowan's lab," Lucas chuckled.

"We weren't lost!" Dawn retorted. "We were just… exploring town! We wanted to see all of Sandgem first!"

"Sure you did. That's why the Professor said you two were arguing about how to get to his lab when you bumped into him."

"We weren't arguing about getting to his lab! We were just-" A loud banging noise interrupted her sentence at the door.

"DAWN! OPEN YOUR DOOR RIGHT NOW!" A loud, obnoxious voice filled the air. Dawn ran to the door and yanked it backwards, only to be whacked in the face by none other than Barry. Dawn fell backwards, as Barry said, "About time! Dawn? Where are you?" He looked down and saw Dawn holding her head and grinned sheepishly. "Oops. That's why I felt cloth instead of wood on those last few knocks…"

Dawn jumped up, and Lucas walked over as well. "Barry! How many times have I told you, you don't need to keep knocking on someone's door thousands of times!"

"Sorry… I just wanted to have a Pokémon battle! Have you trained your Piplup?" Barry asked.

"A little bit. I trained with Lucas," Dawn said. Barry finally took in the fact that Lucas was also standing in the room.

"Huh? Why is Lucas here?"

"I'm traveling with Dawn," Lucas said.

Barry shrugged. "Oh. Well, Dawn, do you wanna battle?"

Dawn nodded. "Definitely! Piplup and I will beat you!"

"Don't be so sure! Chimchar and I have trained a lot!"

"Mind if I come along?" asked Lucas. "I can be the referee. Barry, is Chimchar your only Pokémon so far?"

"Yep!"

"Alright, let's ask Nurse Joy for use of the field in the back."

As soon as the trio gained permission from Nurse Joy (who wondered why there was so much yelling going on), they went outside to the field. It was already 8:30 in the evening by then and stars littered the black sky.

"Alright, this will be a one-on-one battle! Dawn versus Barry. Begin!" Lucas said.

"Piplup, spotlight!"

"Chimchar, come on out!"

The two Poké Balls flew through the air and released Piplup and Chimchar in a blast of white light.

"Alright, Chimchar, use Ember!" Chimchar leapt up and spurted small flames from its mouth towards Piplup.

"Piplup, use Bubble!"

"Pip-lup!" Piplup shot multiple bubbles towards the Ember, and when the two attacks met in midair, a small explosion occurred, releasing a cloud of smoke.

"Chimchar, jump through the smoke and use Scratch on Piplup!" Chimchar ran straight into the smoke, eventually emerging on the other side. However, Piplup was waiting with a Pound attack. Chimchar tried to rake at Piplup with its claws, but Piplup's fins deflected each shot. Finally, when the smoke cleared, Barry gave another command. "Chimchar, use Ember again!" The small flames from Chimchar's mouth flew towards Piplup again, but this time at a much closer range.

"Piplup, use Bubble!" Piplup readied itself for using Bubble, but the Ember was to close.

"Pip, pip-lup!" Piplup flew backwards, struck by the Ember attack. It got back up, and shook itself a bit.

"Chimchar, use Leer!" Chimchar glared at Piplup, making Piplup shrink back.

"Now, finish this off with Scratch!" Chimchar once again leapt towards the cowering Piplup, and scratched Piplup until he fainted.

"Piplup is unable to battle! The winner is Chimchar, and the victory goes to Barry," Lucas announced.

"Piplup!" Dawn ran over to her Pokémon, gently picking him up. "Great job. Now, you need to rest. Return." Dawn called Piplup back into his Poké Ball as Barry triumphed over his victory with his Chimchar.

"See! I told you, Dawn, it's not so easy to beat me!" Barry said.

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

"Barry, if you don't mind, I'd like to battle you as well," Lucas said.

Barry grinned. "Sure! I accept your challenge. You wanna battle right now? Chimchar isn't tired, right?" Chimchar nodded.

"Alright, that's fine with me. Dawn, would you mind being the referee?" Lucas asked.

She shook her head. She stood in the referee's square, and tried to imitate Lucas. "This will be a one-on-one battle. Lucas versus Barry, begin!"

"Chimchar, you're up again!"

"Turtwig, let's go!"

Lucas threw his own Poké Ball to reveal Turtwig.

"Turtwig, start off with Absorb!" Lucas commanded. A red beam flew from Turtwig to Chimchar.

"Dodge it, Chimchar! Then use Scratch!" Chimchar leapt up and was just aabout to hit Turtwig, before Turtwig used Withdraw. The Scratch attack bounced harmlessly off of his shell, and Chimchar leaped backwards, confused.

"Alright then, if you use Withdraw, I'll use Taunt!" Chimchar immediately executed the move, forcing Turtwig to come out of Withdraw.

"Just because you're preventing me from using any moves other than attack moves doesn't mean that Turtwig is defenseless," Lucas said.

"Oh yeah? Chimchar, use Ember!" Chimchar leapt up and spat small flames at Turtwig.

"Turtwig, use Razor Leaf defensively!"

Dawn and Barry were confused. "Defensively?" Barry asked. "What does that mean?"

"You'll see," Lucas said. Turtwig swung his head around and around in circles, releasing a Razor Leaf in a steady spiral upwards. It eventually intercepted the Ember, which burned some of the leaves, but was knocked away by the others.

"Now, Turtwig, send the leaves at Chimchar!" With one final swing of his head, Turtwig sent the long column of spinning leaves at Chimchar, who was swept up and battered to the ground. Chimchar immediately fainted from the strong attack.

"Chimchar is unable to battle. Turtwig is the winner, and the victory goes to Lucas!" Dawn said.

"Good job, Turtwig! Now return and get a good rest for tomorrow." Lucas called Turtwig back, while, across the field, Barry was lamenting over his loss.

"No way! I had the type advantage! I trained so much! I should've won! Aaaaaah! Return Chimchar! You did well…" The Poké Ball released a red beam that absorbed Chimchar back into the Poké Ball. Barry walked over, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, that was a great battle. You're a great trainer if you can beat me, Lucas!"

Lucas shook his head. "Using Taunt was a great way to get me out of Withdraw. I didn't think that Chimchar would be able to use it yet, but he did!"

Barry nodded. "Well, I'm going to go train. Dawn, Lucas, next time I'll beat both of you, and not just you Dawn!" He ran off, leaving Dawn and Lucas at the battle field.

"Barry sure is eccentric isn't he?" asked Lucas as the two entered the Pokémon Center. Dawn simply nodded. Lucas noticed that she was extremely quiet. She wasn't acting much like Dawn. She was just staring at the floor all the way to their room. Lucas couldn't take the uncomfortable silence. "What's wrong, Dawn?" The two stopped outside of their room, not going in. Lucas looked at Dawn, expecting an answer, but she wouldn't give anything away. "Dawn, what's wrong? Ever since Barry left, you've been like this. Unless…" Realizing what he just said himself, he looked at Dawn with an odd look. "You like Barry?"

The shock of this question made Dawn snap her face upwards and glance incredulously at Lucas. "Me? Like _Barry_? Are you insane, Lucas?" Lucas chuckled.

"Well, your reaction sure does make me think you do. Plus, you've been all weird since he left."

Dawn sighed. "I don't like Barry, and that's that. It's just… well, it's just that… I'm wondering why you beat Barry so easily and I lost. I couldn't help Piplup beat Barry and his Chimchar. Instead, I lost instead."

Lucas nodded, realization dawning upon his face. "I see. You're feeling sad that you couldn't beat him, and that you let Piplup down."

Dawn nodded. Lucas saw the beginnings of tears starting to form in her eyes.

"It's just that… I'm wondering if I'm weak. If I'm not strong enough to make it through Sinnoh now."

Lucas shook his head and reprimanded her. "Don't think that way. Just because you lost one battle against Barry doesn't mean you're weak!"

"I lost against you once too…"

"You just need to train some more. We didn't get much practice in before, but if you're feeling this way because of a loss, you're sure in for a surprise now, because I'll help you train all you want, so when Barry comes again, you can beat him and any other Pokémon he has by then. Alright?"

Dawn looked shocked at his outburst. In fact, Lucas himself didn't understand why he had just gotten so angry.

"Lucas… I'm sorry. I'll train harder! If you'll help me train, I'm sure that I can do this! Thanks a lot, Lucas."

"Don't worry about it," Lucas said, grinning. "Trust me, next time Barry sees you, he'll be running away before you even knew it! But let's just turn in for the night. After all, we need to get to Oreburgh tomorrow so we can get our Gym Badges. Don't forget, there's also a Contest in Oreburgh. Professor Rowan told us."

"We?" Dawn asked, smiling. Lucas nodded.

"Yes, we. I've decided that you are going to go for Gym Badges as well, and there's nothing you can do about it! It'll help your Contest skills too, you know."

Dawn laughed, and the two entered their room and soon fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Four

Lucas woke up to the sounds of multiple Starly outside of his window. He glanced across the room at Dawn to see her peacefully sleeping in her own bed. He smiled. _She looks kind of cute…_, Lucas thought, before shaking his head. He got up and went to the bathroom to change into his normal attire. He then grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a quick note to Dawn. Leaving it on her bedside drawer, he grabbed two Poké Balls, one holding Turtwig. He silently left the room.

"Ahhh…" Dawn yawned widely and sat up in her bed. Noticing that Lucas was missing, she sprang up. "Lucas? If you're hiding, this isn't funny!" Not understanding why she panicked so much, she finally caught sight of Lucas's note.

_Hey Dawn,_

_I just went to take a walk on Route 204. Be back in a while!_

_Lucas_

She sighed. _He's just taking a walk, _she thought. She went to get dressed, and just finished when Lucas came in.

"Oh, good morning, Lucas…"

"Morning. Sorry, I just needed some fresh air," Lucas said, oddly elated. "Well, I'm done packing. You?"

Dawn nodded in response. "Let's just go check out with Nurse Joy before we leave," she said. The two signed out at the front desk, and left the Pokémon Center. Then, a man walked up to them.

"Well, hello there! Are you two trainers?"

"Yes, we are," Lucas said.

"Do you have a Pokétch?"

Dawn shook her head.

The man gasped. "You don't have a Pokétch? But… but… but that's a basic trainer's necessity! Oh, I know! I'll give you both a question, and if you answer it correctly, I'll give you a Pokétch as well!"

"Alright, sir," Lucas said.

"Let's start off with the young lady here. Your question is this: are Rock-type attacks super effective against Flying-type Pokémon?"

Dawn thought for a moment before responding, "Yes."

"Congratulations! You got it right! Here," the man said, handing Dawn a pink Pokétch. "And now," he said to Lucas, "your question is this: are Ground-type Pokémon affected by Electric-type attacks?"

"No," Lucas said.

"Congratulations! You win this Pokétch!" the man said, handing a blue Pokétch to Lucas. "A Pokétch can have many applications installed on it. Plenty of people give them away, so make sure to collect those apps! Oh, by the way, if you ever want to find me, come to the Pokétch Company building! I'm the president!" And with that, the president of the Pokétch Company ran to another boy who looked like a trainer.

"Wow… we won a free Pokétch each so easily," Lucas said.

"Well, it's free, so I'm not complaining!" Dawn stated cheerfully. "Come on! We'll have to get to Oreburgh City now." Dawn quickly yanked out her Town Map and glanced at it. "Looks like we'll have to go through something called the Oreburgh Gate. I think it's some sort of cave."

Lucas nodded. "I've heard of that. We'll just have to get through it quickly if we want to get to Oreburgh."

"Let's go, then!" Dawn and Lucas took out their bicycles and started towards the Oreburgh Gate.

After a short period of pedaling, the pair arrived at the entrance to the Oreburgh Gate. Lucas then said, "Why don't we stop before we go through? We should train before we challenge the Oreburgh Gym, you know."

"Sure! By the way, who runs the Oreburgh Gym?" Dawn asked.

Lucas thought about it for a moment, before answering, "I think that his name is Roark. He specializes in Rock-Type Pokémon, so when we battle him, we'll both have the advantage, because Water and Grass both super-effect Rock."

"Alright then. Why don't we train over there?" Dawn asked, pointing to a small area off to the left of where they stood. It was a rocky piece of barren land.

"Why not? I bet that's something like Roark's Gym field, if he specializes in Rock-types." The two parked their bikes right next to it before standing at opposite ends of the area.

"Piplup, spotlight!"

"Turtwig, you're on!"

They both threw their Poké Balls and released Piplup and Turtwig.

"Pip-pip lup!"

"Turtwig!"

"Let's go, Piplup!" Dawn yelled. "Use Bubble!" Piplup jumped up and fired multiple bubbles at Turtwig, who simply used Absorb to pop them.

"Turtwig, use Razor Leaf!" Turtwig swung his head around, sending spinning leaves towards Piplup.

"Piplup, try to dodge them!" Dawn commanded. Piplup jumped and ducked, but the sheer number of leaves eventually knocked Piplup down. It sat up and glared at Turtwig, before jumping up and spiraling down at Turtwig. During the spiraling, his beak began to glow white.

"What's that?" Dawn asked.

"Piplup just learned how to use Peck!" Lucas exclaimed. "Turtwig, quick, Withdraw!" Turtwig tried to pull itself back into his shell, but Piplup came down too quickly. The Peck attack hit Turtwig in the head. The speed at which Piplup hit Turtwig with, added to the fact that it was super effective, made Turtwig faint.

"Turtwig!" Lucas ran over and picked up his fainted Pokémon. "Good job. Now you should get a good rest. Return."

"That was surprising!" Dawn said to Piplup. "Way to go, you learned a new move!"

"Piplup!"

"Dawn, you know, Piplup is going to evolve soon. Piplup learn Peck right before they evolve. Piplup evolves to Prinplup, which evolves into Empoleon."

"Really?" Dawn said excitedly. "I can't wait! What about you, Piplup?" she asked.

Piplup shook his head. Evolve? He would rather stay a Piplup. Dawn pulled back a little.

"No? You don't want to evolve? Why not?"

"Pip, pip, pip! Piplup!"

Dawn sighed, and called Piplup back into his Poké Ball. "I guess Piplup isn't so excited about evolving as I am."

Lucas smiled. "Every Pokémon has a nature. Piplup just doesn't want to evolve. I know for a fact that Turtwig wants to become Torterra one day."

Dawn nodded. "Well, I suppose that we'd better get through that Oreburgh Gate." They walked back to the entrance and started to meander through the cave.

After thirty minutes of battling wild Pokémon and getting lost, they stumbled out of the exit leading to Oreburgh City.

"Finally! That place is evil!" Dawn said, almost collapsing on the ground after being chased by three flocks of Zubat, almost being crushed by a few Onix, and having Geodude chase them as well.

"Hey, Dawn, Lucas!" A yellow-haired boy rushed over to them.

"Hey, Barry," Dawn said. "What are you doing in Oreburgh?"

"Me, doing in Oreburgh? I've gotten the Coal Badge from Roark, so why should I still be here? I'm leaving right now! It's time for Eterna City! Off I go!" Barry sped through the entrance to the Oreburgh Gate, leaving Lucas and Dawn to worry about their Gym Battle.

"Hey, you two there." A man with red hair and a helmet walked over to them. "Are you guys trainers?"

Lucas nodded. "I'm Lucas, and this is Dawn. Who are you?"

The man grinned. "I'm Roark. I'm the leader of the Oreburgh Gym. I was just wondering if you were going to challenge the Gym."

Dawn nodded. "We will, Roark. In fact, we challenge you right now, seeing as you're here."

"I accept the challenge of Dawn. I need to reboot myself after that kid with blond hair beat me. He's tough."

Dawn and Lucas both laughed. "Roark, mind if I challenge you as well?" Lucas asked.

"Not at all! After all, the more the merrier! I'll just have to heal my Pokémon between matches," Roark said. "Come by any time, and I'll be waiting!" Roark waved them a good-bye and left for the Pokémon Center.

"Hey, Lucas, wanna go see the mines?" Dawn asked. Oreburgh was known for the Oreburgh Mines, and large mine that produced lots of coal.

He shrugged. "I kind of want to train more with Turtwig. I might catch up to you later though."

"Alright, that's fine!" Dawn charged straight for the mines, while Lucas left for the Pokémon Center to heal his Pokémon.

Lucas finished his training with his Pokémon, so he went to the Oreburgh Mines, where Dawn was still exploring. The two continued to explore, until every inch of the mines had been seen.

"One of us might as well challenge Roark today," Lucas said, as he and Dawn walked around the city.

"Yeah, I guess. You can go first. I want to see his Pokémon before I battle him," Dawn replied.

"Oh, so the only reason you want me to go first is so that you can see his strategy?" Lucas asked cheekily.

"Of course! You're my personal spy, after all," Dawn joked. They both laughed, and found themselves outside of the Pokémon Gym. They went inside and saw the battlefield immediately; it was a rectangular dirt field with many rock protrusions. Dawn went to sit in the stands surrounding the field, and Lucas walked to the challenger's box on the end of the battlefield.

"Welcome, Lucas! I see that you've chosen to challenge me first!" Roark walked out of a long hallway at the other side of the Gym with a referee. The referee went to his box, and, after discussing with Lucas, called the rules of the match.

Holding his two flags aloft, he announced, "This is an official Gym Battle for the Coal Badge of the Oreburgh Gym! Challenger Lucas versus Gym Leader Roark! The battle will be two-on-two! The challenger may switch his Pokémon in during the match, but the Gym Leader may not!"

Dawn gasped. "Two-on-two? Turtwig is Lucas's only Pokémon! What is he doing?"

"Alrighty, then. Onix, come on out!" Roark threw his Poké Ball onto the field, releasing his Onix. Dawn groaned.

"Not another one of those things!" she complained. She had certainly had enough of them from the Oreburgh Gate!

"Turtwig, you're on!" Lucas called out Turtwig immediately.

"Match, begin!" the referee yelled.

"Onix, Stealth Rock, now!"

"Onnnnnn!" Onix threw himself up as tall as he could go, before glowing white. White streamers of energy flew off of Onix and turned into rocks that buried themselves in the ground.

"Turtwig, hit him with Razor Leaf!" Turtwig swung his head around in circles, releasing the spinning leaves.

"Onix, Screech, let's go!" Roark said. Onix opened his mouth wide and bellowed out a deep growl, knocking the leaves away, as well as immobilizing Turtwig, who groaned. The noise was giving Turtwig a headache.

"Turtwig! Quick, Withdraw!" Lucas shouted.

"Yeah, come one, Turtwig!" Dawn encouraged from the sidelines.

Turtwig slowly pulled his head into his shell, followed by his legs. The noise was inaudible in the protection of his shell.

"Now, follow up with Razor Leaf again!" Turtwig whipped his head from side to side in the little space inside his shell, releasing a steady stream of leaves that hit Onix head on.

"Onix!" Roark yelled! Onix collapsed against the ground, and Turtwig got out of his shell.

"Turtwig, while Onix is down, use Absorb!" Lucas commanded. Turtwig released a red beam the hurtled towards Onix, who was just managing to get up. Hitting Onix and sucking away energy, the Absorb healed any damage that Turtwig had sustained, and made Onix faint.

"Onix!" Roark yelled, concerned.

"Onix is unable to battle," the referee yelled. "Turtwig wins!"

"Way to go, Turtwig!" Lucas and Dawn both yelled.

"Return Onix," Roark said. Smiling, he said, "Great job. You helped a lot."

"Alright, Turtwig, return and get some rest." Lucas also called back his Pokémon.

"L-Lucas! What are you doing? You only have one Pokémon!" Dawn said. Lucas simply smiled.

"Alright, Lucas. That was a good battle, but trust me, this next Pokémon isn't going to be that easy to beat! Cranidos, come out!" Roark called out his final Pokémon, Cranidos. A grey and blue Pokémon flashed out of the Poké Ball.

"Cran-cranidos!"

"What's that?" Lucas asked. Pulling out his Pokédex, he quickly scanned it.

_Cranidos, the Head Butt Pokémon:_

_A lifelong jungle dweller from 100 million years ago, it would snap obstructing trees with headbutts._

"Alright. Silcoon, come on out!" Lucas said, throwing his second Poké Ball. Dawn looked perplexed as the white Cocoon Pokémon flashed out.

"Lucas, when and where did you get a Silcoon from?" Dawn asked as she scanned the Silcoon with her Pokédex.

_Silcoon, the Cocoon Pokémon:_

_It wraps silk around the branches of a tree. It drinks rainwater on its silk while awaiting evolution._

"I caught her as a Wurmple when I took that walk on Route 204 this morning. I was just training to evolve her to see if she would become a Silcoon or a Cascoon," Lucas said, grinning.

"Match, begin!" the referee yelled again.

"Alright," Lucas said. "Silcoon, use – what?" Lucas gasped. The rocks implanted in the ground from Stealth Rock flew up and smashed into Silcoon, dealing a good amount of damage. "Oh no! I forgot about Stealth Rock!" Lucas said.

"Great! Now, Cranidos, while his Silcoon is down, use Headbutt!" Roark said.

"Silcoon! Use String Shot to knock it off balance!" Lucas yelled.

Cranidos charged full speed at the struggling Silcoon, but Silcoon released a white, sticky thread at Cranidos' feet. The String Shot twined itself around Cranidos' legs and adhered strongly.

"Cran!" Cranidos flipped right over onto its own head, smashing a dent into the ground.

"Way to go, Silcoon!" Dawn cheered.

"Silcoon, use Poison Sting!"

"Sil!" Tiny, poisoned, purple barbs erupted from Silcoon's body, slicing and repulsing Cranidos backwards.

"Cranidos!" Roark called. Cranidos immediately jumped back up though, as the attack did not do very much damage.

"Alright, Silcoon, return! Turtwig, you're up!" Lucas switched his Pokémon, and winced as Stealth Rock crashed into Turtwig.

"Cranidos! Use Focus Energy, and then Zen Headbutt!" Roark said.

"Turtwig, use Absorb!" Lucas said.

Cranidos first glowed, before charging forward, head glowing, and crashed straight through the red Absorb attack.

"Turt?" Turtwig pulled back, and was slammed by the Psychic attack. Crashing onto his back, Turtwig did not get up.

"Turtwig is unable to battle. Cranidos wins!" the referee decreed.

"What?" Lucas said, surprised. "That shouldn't have knocked Turtwig out! Unless… oh. I see now," Lucas said, nodding.

"That's right. Focus Energy makes the critical-hit ratio go up. Cranidos' Zen Headbutt delivered a critical hit," Roark said.

"Oh no," Dawn whispered. "Lucas only has Silcoon! And it's not like Silcoon is strong against Rock-types!"

"Silcoon! You're on!" Lucas threw Silcoon's Poké Ball and released her.

"Sil!"

"Alright, Silcoon, you'll have to do your best to beat Cranidos," Lucas said.

"Go Silcoon! You can do it," Dawn cheered from the side.

"Alright. Cranidos, use Zen Headbutt again!" Roark commanded. Cranidos charged forward, head glowing.

"Silcoon! Use Tackle and take it!" Lucas said. He knew it was risky, but he couldn't see any way out of getting hit anyways.

"Cranidos!"

"Silcoon!"

Their two attacks clashed at the center of the field, and repelled the two Pokemon backwards. Cranidos was barely harmed, but Silcoon was not faring too well.

"Silcoon!" Lucas yelled. _Come on,_ Lucas thought fiercely. _There has to be a way to get out the range of his attacks!_

"Cranidos! For our grand finale, let us end this with Head Smash!" Roark said, clearly expecting victory.

Cranidos reared up, and a blue light surrounded him. He shot forward like a bullet towards Silcoon.

_Head Smash causes recoil damage. If I can get him to smash a rock…_ Lucas thought.

"Silcoon!" Lucas said. "Use String Shot to pull yourself behind one of those rocks!"

Silcoon shot the sticky thread to a rock a decent distance away, and pulled herself along the thread. She was safe, for the time.

"Oh no! Cranidos, turn!" Roark said. However, Cranidos' momentum was too great, so it kept going, until it smashed into a large rock. While the rock was blasted to pieces, Cranidos keeled back from the recoil damage he received.

"Now Silcoon! Use Poison – what?" Lucas stared. Just about to command Silcoon to use Poison Sting, Silcoon was glowing white.

"Lucas! Silcoon's evolving!" Dawn shouted. And, indeed, Silcoon glowed brighter and changed shape, eventually ending up as a butterfly-looking creature floating in air.

Lucas quickly grabbed his Pokédex to scan the Pokémon.

_Beautifly, the Butterfly Pokémon:_

_Despite its looks, it is aggressive. It jabs with its long, thin mouth if disturbed while collecting pollen._

"Alright!" Lucas said. "You evolved!" Checking his Pokédex once again, he was surprised to see that Beautifly had learned two new moves upon evolution, one of which would be perfect to end this match…

"Even though your Silcoon evolved, it's still no match for Cranidos!" Roark said.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Lucas said. "Beautifly! Use Absorb on Cranidos!" Beautifly swooped down and flew towards the staggering Cranidos, throwing a red beam forward as she did. Striking Cranidos directly, Cranidos was sapped of his remaining energy, while Beautifly looked healthy once again from Absorb. Cranidos collapsed to the ground, still. Roark gaped.

"Cranidos is unable to battle! Beautifly is the winner, and the victory goes to Lucas of Sandgem Town!" the referee said.

"Cranidos! Return, and get a nice rest," Roark said. "Well," Roark said after pocketing Cranidos' Poké Ball, "That was an impressive battle. You battled well, and you'll get the Coal Badge to prove it!"

A few minutes later, after Roark had located his badges, Lucas, Dawn, and Roark stood outside the Gym in the beautiful evening sun with Beautifly and Turtwig.

"Lucas, I officially present you the Coal Badge as proof of your victory here at the Oreburhg Gym," Roark said, giving the Badge to Lucas.

"Thanks, Roark!" Lucas exclaimed as he inspected his Badge. "Way to go, you two," he said, addressing Beautifly and Turtwig. "You were both great today!"

"Beautifly!"

"Turtwig!"

As Lucas tucked his Coal Badge safely away into his Badge Case, Roark talked to Dawn.

"I expect that you'll challenge me tomorrow, Dawn, seeing as it's already late today," Roark said.

"Of course, Roark!" Dawn said. "And just you wait, I'll beat you too!"

Lucas and Roark laughed, and soon, Dawn joined in, their happiness spreading gleefully through the air. Tomorrow couldn't come too soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Five

"Thank you for registering for the Oreburgh City contest," Nurse Joy said as she handed back Lucas and Dawn's Pokédexes. "Here are your Contest Passes," Nurse Joy said, as she handed two small ID cards to Lucas and Dawn. "They'll let you compete in any Contest in all of Sinnoh," she said brightly. "Also, here are two Ball Capsules for each of you and some seals as well. I hope you make good use of them!"

"Thank you, Nurse Joy," Lucas said as he claimed his two Ball Capsules and his seals.

"Yeah, thanks a lot!" Dawn said excitedly. "I can't wait for the Contest!"

Nurse Joy smiled. These two were so energetic, especially Dawn. "Oh," she said, remembering something. "I'm so sorry," she said, reaching beneath her desk. "Here's a copy of the Official Sinnoh Contest Rulebook for you. It'll tell you everything you need to know for Contests in the Sinnoh region."

"Thanks!" Lucas grabbed the book as well, and then walked with Dawn to their rented room in the Oreburgh Pokémon Center. "Well, it's only 8:00," Lucas said. "Why don't we do something else for now?" The two had just gotten to the Pokémon Center, eaten dinner, and registered for the Oreburgh Contest after Lucas' Gym Battle.

"Sure! I need to practice for tomorrow's Gym Battle anyways, and we might as well work on Contest stuff too," Dawn said. "Plus, I wanna see these seals in action!"

They left their backpacks and belongings safely in their room, took their Poké Ball, and asked Nurse Joy for permission to use the battlefield in the back. After getting her permission, they left for the field, which was a flat, dirt rectangle. Dawn took out the seals she received and examined them.

"There are so many to choose from!" she said excitedly. Picking a small seal that looked like a pink heart, she placed it onto her Poké Ball, which already had the Ball Capsule on it. Lucas, on the other hand, chose two star seals to put onto his Ball Capsule-covered Poké Balls.

"Piplup, spotlight!"

"Beautifly, Turtwig, you're on!"

They both released their Pokémon onto the field, but the seals created multiple effects. Dawn's heart seal released Piplup with a blast of pink hearts, while Lucas' star seals created a sea of spiraling, multi-colored stars that eventually revealed Turtwig and Beautifly in the middle of them.

"Alright, Beautifly, Turtwig, which of you wants to battle with Piplup?" Lucas asked.

"Turt!"

"Alright, Turtwig. You can. Beautifly, I want to train with you for Contests. Dawn, do you mind if it's just Turtwig fighting Piplup without me?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, that's fine. You go ahead and work on your Contest moves with Beautifly!" Dawn said.

"Thanks. Let's go Beautifly." Lucas and Beautifly walked off the field and towards the trees that littered the back of the Pokémon Center.

"Turtwig, Piplup, let's get training!" Dawn said.

"So," Lucas muttered as he read off the moves that Beautifly could learn in his head. Let's get training, Beautifly. Use Gust, and then Poison Sting!"

"Beau!"

While Lucas and Beautifly worked on Contest combinations, Turtwig and Piplup were having a fierce battle.

"Piplup, use Bubble!" Dawn commanded. Piplup immediately shot multiple bubbles at Turtwig, who simply used Razor Leaf, which sliced through each bubble and damaged Piplup.

"Piplup! Use Bubble again, but then follow up with Pound!" Piplup did just that, using Pound to give the bubbles an extra bit of power. The bubbles sped towards Turtwig, who jumped above them to dodge the attack.

"Turtwig!" Suddenly, Turtwig opened his mouth and a green energy ball that shined white at the core materialized. Turtwig blasted it at Piplup.

"Piplup, whatever that attack is, use Peck!" Piplup's beak glowed white and he charged the attack, blasting it to pieces. And then, Turtwig began to glow.

_The surprises just keep coming, don't they,_ thought Dawn. _What the heck is going on?_

Turtwig glowed brighter and brighter and began to grow larger as well. Finally, when the light subsided, a new Pokémon stood there.

"Grotle!" he called out. Dawn quickly grabbed her Pokédex.

_Grotle, the Grove Pokémon:_

_It knows where pure water wells up. It carries fellow Pokémon there on its back._

Quickly scanning his moves, Dawn realized that the green ball of energy that Turtwig had made earlier was Energy Ball.

"Dawn!" Lucas came running through the trees with Beautifly gliding along behind him. "I saw a flash of light! What happened? Where's Turt—oh." Lucas saw Grotle standing in the clearing. "Turtwig evolved?" Lucas asked Dawn questioningly. She nodded.

"He learned Energy Ball too. He used it right before he started to evolve."

Lucas remained oddly silent. "Lucas? Is something wrong?" Dawn asked.

Lucas ran straight to Grotle and hugged him. "Great! You evolved! You're one step away from becoming a Torterra!"

"Grotle!"

Dawn laughed. She thought that he had been angry with her for a moment. "So how did Contest training go with Beautifly?" she asked.

"Great! Beautifly is working on her moves, and they're amazing!"

Dawn smiled. She didn't know why, but seeing Lucas so happy made her happy as well.

"That's great! Well, uh, do you want to let Beautifly battle Piplup instead of Turt —Grotle?" Dawn asked.

"Sure!" said Lucas. "Grotle, come with me," he said, "and Beautifly, you battle Piplup." Lucas started to walk away, but then added, "Don't go giving away our Contest moves, Beautifly!"

"Beautifly, fly!" she said.

Lucas smiled, and left to work on Grotle's attacks. Dawn turned to Beautifly.

"Let's go!" Dawn said. "Piplup, use Bubble!" Piplup opened his beak wide, and was about to release the bubbles, when he started to glow as well!

"No way!" Dawn gasped. "You're evolving too?"

Piplup shook his head, trying to get rid of the energy building up inside of him. Piplup opened his eyes, and the light surrounding him was increasing in intensity. An idea came to Piplup. Steeling himself, Piplup purposefully rammed straight into a tree at the edge of the field. The impact force was enough to cancel out the evolution process.

"Piplup! What are you doing?" Dawn ran to her Pokémon and picked him up. Gently cradling him in her arms, she said, "I understand that you don't want to evolve… and I've got something that will help. Beautifly, if Lucas comes back, tell him I just went to our room for a moment, okay?"

"Beau!"

"Let's go, Piplup." She walked away from the field and into the Pokémon Center. Meanwhile, Lucas was training Grotle.

"Energy Ball, let's go!" Grotle opened his mouth, and conjured up a larger-than-normal Energy Ball, which he fired into the sky.

"Quick, use Absorb and then Razor Leaf!" Grotle fired the red beam from the bushes on his back at the Energy Ball, causing it to become enveloped in a red light, that shined brilliantly from the inner luminescence of the Energy Ball. Next, the Razor Leaf attack that flew from the bushes on Grotle shredded the green-red ball to pieces, exploding it with the force of many sharp knives. The only remnant of the Energy Ball-Absorb combination was the firework that it had created; a green and red burst of sparkles in midair.

"Nice combination!" Lucas said, congratulating Grotle.

"Grotle!"

"I think that we've had enough training for today," Lucas said. Checking his Poketch, he saw that it was 8:30. "Why don't we train a little with Beautifly for awhile?"

Grotle nodded, so he and Lucas walked back to the field. To Lucas' surprise, only Beautifly was there; Dawn and Piplup were missing.

"Beautifly? Where are —" Lucas was quickly cut off by Beautifly.

"Beau! Beau, beau, beautifly!" Beautifly said whilst pointing at the Pokémon Center.

"Okay. So, let's train!" Lucas said.

Dawn dug into her bag in the room, searching for that little stone she had found a year ago. Her mother had been pleasantly surprised at the find; Johanna had said that it was a rare stone. Dawn felt around on the bottom of her bag, before finally feeling a cool, smooth surface. Sighing, she pulled it out of her bag. It was an Everstone, a rare stone that prevented evolution as long as it was held by a Pokémon. She gave the dark blue stone to Piplup, who took it and looked at it questioningly.

"That's an Everstone, Piplup. It'll make you stay a Piplup as long as you're holding it."

"Piii-pip!" Piplup excitedly held it close to his body. He was going to treasure this item!

"Alright, let's go back to the field. Lucas might be back."

Dawn got up and started for the door. Piplup remained motionless for a few seconds, examining his Everstone. When they got back outside, they saw Lucas and his two Pokémon training fiercely. Lucas was standing with his back turned to Dawn when she came out, and didn't hear her come out of the Pokémon Center; he was too concentrated on his Pokémon.

"Grotle, use Curse to amp up your Attack and Defense, and then use Tackle! Beautifly, counter Tackle with a Gust-Tackle combination!" Lucas said.

The two Pokémon did as they were told, and Dawn and Piplup watched in awe as Grotle charged towards Beautifly, his Attack stat higher due to Curse. Beautifly, on the other hand, span around and around; this was Tackle. Then, from her wings, came Gust attack, which spread out and enveloped Beautifly in a protective shell of wind. The two Pokémon clashed in the middle of the field, both fighting to push the other backwards, but Beautifly was the winner, successfully repelling Grotle. However, since Curse raised Grotle's Attack _and_ Defense stats, Grotle took almost no damage from Beautifly's Tackle, since Grotle already had a high Defense to start with; the same couldn't be said for Beautifly's Gust. By spinning around and creating current of air with Tackle, Gust was powered up as well, as the current of air took the Gust attack and shaped it. Since Gust wasn't a physical attack, and therefore required Special Defense to resist, Grotle was beaten. In addition, Gust was a super-effective move against Grass-type Grotle.

"Nice combination, Lucas!" Dawn congratulated. Lucas turned around, noticing Dawn for the first time since she came outside.

"Oh, thanks, Dawn. Sorry, I didn't realize you were out here."

Dawn smiled. "It's fine."

"Alright, Beautifly, Grotle, return!" Lucas called back his Pokémon and tucked their Poké Balls onto his belt. "I guess we should get back to our room then."

"Yeah. I need my sleep, so I've got plenty of energy to beat Roark!"

Lucas chuckled at that comment. "I'd guess that he's going to use his Cranidos, since Cranidos seems to be his strongest Pokémon."

"Yeah, I think so too," Dawn said.

The pair went straight to their room, and slept as soon as they could, since they wanted to get up earlier tomorrow in order to prepare for Dawn's Gym Battle. Before they knew it, the sun had started to rise in the horizon.

Dawn yawned. Looking at her Pokétch, which was perched precariously on her bedside table, she saw that it was 7:28 a.m. She quickly got dressed and went to have breakfast, not noticing that Lucas wasn't in bed. After she had finished eating, she went out to the battlefield again, and was surprised to see Lucas. He wasn't training; he was just sitting on the ground with his eyes closed.

"Lucas?"

At hearing Dawn's voice, his eyes snapped open. "Oh, Dawn! Sorry, I didn't want to wake you. I got up at 7:10 to get some fresh air. Have you had breakfast?"

"Yeah, I have. You?"

Lucas nodded. "The morning air smells great, doesn't it?" he asked contentedly.

"It does…"

"I let Beautifly out to take a morning flight. She should be back any moment now," Lucas said, and indeed, a few seconds after he said that, Beautifly spiraled towards the two from midair, leaving a trail of sparkles behind her.

"Beau!"

Lucas laughed. "Oh, stop showing off," he said affectionately. "Alright, get Piplup warmed up for the battle?"

"Beau!"

"Alright, Piplup, let's go!" Dawn said, throwing her Poké Ball up and releasing Piplup.

"Beautifly, go ahead," Lucas said. He looked over at Piplup. He seemed extremely happy for some reason. Then, he noticed the Everstone.

"Dawn, did you give Piplup an Everstone?" Lucas asked in amazement.

"Yep, I found it last year. I decided to keep it in case I needed it, and I sure did!" Dawn said.

"So Piplup will always be a Piplup now, I suppose?"

"Yep, but let's battle! I can't wait to get the Coal Badge!" Dawn said. "Piplup, start this off with Bubble!"

"Piplup!"

"Um, excuse me." Nurse Joy stepped out to the field. Piplup froze, attempting to stop the Bubble attack; all he succeeded in was choking out smaller bubbles.

"I've got someone on the video phone for Dawn," Nurse Joy said. Dawn groaned.

"Aw, man! I was just getting ready for a battle!" she complained. She went with Nurse Joy anyways, but looked utterly annoyed. Lucas had to grin at this.

"Piplup, come on," Dawn muttered. Piplup jumped up from his choking fit, and leapt onto Dawn's shoulder.

"Grotle!" Lucas said, releasing Grotle. "Why don't you train with Beautifly until Dawn comes back?"

"Grot!"

Nurse Joy steered Dawn over to the video phones, before returning to the desk. Every Pokémon Center had video phones, of course. It wasn't just Oreburgh City that had them.

Dawn's caller turned out to be her mother, Johanna. "Oh, hey Mom!" Dawn's annoyed expression changed immediately when she caught sight of her caller.

"Hello, Dawn! So, you're in Oreburgh, hmm?" Dawn's mother asked.

"Yeah. Lucas beat Roark yesterday and earned the Coal Badge, and I'm challenging him today!"

Johanna was startled. "You're challenging Roark? I thought you were going to compete in Contests!"

"Well, I'm competing in Contests and Gym Battles! Lucas convinced me too."

"I see. So, how is your boyfriend anyways?" Johanna asked slyly.

"What?" Dawn said incredulously, a pink blush appearing on her cheeks. "Boyfriend?"

Johanna laughed her head off at Dawn's expression. "You are too easy to tease, Dawn."

Dawn grumbled a bit about that. As if she hadn't had enough teasing in her life already!

"Lucas is fine. Do you want to meet him?" Dawn asked.

"Of course I want to meet my future son-in-law!" Johanna said brightly.

A deeper shade of red came over Dawn's face, and she muttered something along the lines of, "Not fair, I don't get any chances to make fun of her. Tch, the first boy besides Barry I happen to meet, she goes and says he's my boyfriend!" Turning back to the video phone's screen, she said, "Hang on. He's outside."

Dawn went back outside to the fields, where she saw Grotle and Beautifly working on something. Grotle was using Energy Ball, and Beautifly was carefully examining how the attack worked.

"Hey Dawn. Done with your call?" Lucas asked.

"No… my mom wants to meet you," said Dawn.

"That's fine," Lucas said. "Beautifly, keep at it," Lucas added, addressing his Pokémon.

"What's Beautifly doing?" Dawn asked.

"Trying to learn the move Shadow Ball. I figured, since Energy Ball is a little bit like it, maybe Grotle could help her learn it."

Dawn nodded. That was why Beautifly was concentrating on the Energy Ball. Leading Lucas over to the video phones, she introduced her mom to Lucas, and vice versa.

"Oh, just call me Johanna," Dawn's mother said.

"It's nice to meet you, Johanna," Lucas said, bowing respectfully.

"I hear that you're traveling with Dawn, then? And that you've gotten your first Gym Badge?" Johanna asked.

Lucas nodded. "Dawn's a great traveling partner," he said.

Johanna smiled. "She should be! I taught her all her manners, although she never caught on."

Lucas chuckled. Dawn, sensing that this would probably end up having her mom tell Lucas everything that Dawn could be teased about, jumped into the conversation.

"Well, Mom, you've met Lucas!" Dawn said hurriedly. "Lucas, I think you should go train some more. I think I saw Beautifly almost get a small Shadow Ball!"

Lucas nodded. "It was nice meeting you, Johanna," he said, bowing once more before going back to the battlefield.

"He's very polite, isn't he, Dawn?" asked Johanna. Dawn nodded. "Maybe his manners will rub off on you, seeing as the manners that I taught you never seemed to stick…"

Dawn smirked. "I'm just amazing at listening to my mom!"

"Well, you seem to like listening to Lucas more," Johanna said, smiling.

Dawn mentally slapped herself. _I totally led myself straight into that._

"Well, Dawn, it was nice talking. Call me once you get your Gym Badge, okay?" And with that, Johanna hung up. Dawn sighed. Her mom was so… indescribable sometimes.

On the other end of the phone, Johanna sipped a cup of tea, whilst thinking about her daughter and Lucas. _It wouldn't be _bad_ if those two got together…_

Dawn went back to the battlefield, where Lucas and Grotle were encouraging Beautifly. To Dawn's surprise, her lie about seeing Beautifly make a small Shadow Ball wasn't a lie; Beautifly had indeed managed to form a small seed of dark energy, but it was nowhere near the power of an actual Shadow Ball.

Right now, though, Beautifly was staring at the space in front of her, willing the dark energy to form and take shape. Once again, a small seed of dark energy collected in the midst of what looked like small, purple-black lightning bolts. Focusing even harder, Beautifly forced the dark energy to stay where it was and collect to grow larger and larger.

"That's the way, Beautifly!" Lucas called encouragingly. Beautifly's Shadow Ball was indeed beginning to look more like the actual attack, but before she could build it up further, the dark energy collapsed on itself, blowing Beautifly backwards. Lucas ran forward to catch her, and congratulated her on her efforts before returning her to her Poké Ball.

"Wow!" Dawn said. "That's amazing! Beautifly's already got a new move coming!"

Lucas smiled. "Well, if you still want to warm up," he said hesitatingly.

"Nah. I think I'll just go to the Gym."

Lucas shrugged. "It's up to you."

The two walked to the Gym together after they got all of their Pokémon healed. Dawn had Piplup on her shoulder, and he seemed to enjoy his position there.

"Up so early just to challenge me?" Roark asked. Dawn and Lucas both jumped, startled. Without even noticing it, they were already in front of the Gym. In fact, if Roark hadn't spoken out, the two would have walked right past it, immersed in their conversation as they were.  
>"Oh!" Dawn said. "Roark!"<p>

"Well, since you're here, I'm guessing that you're challenging the Gym?" he asked.

"Yep! And I guarantee you that I'll beat you!" Dawn said.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Roark chuckled.

The trio walked to the battlefield, and Dawn and Roark took their places on it, as the referee yelled out the rules.

"This is an official Gym Battle for the Coal Badge of the Oreburgh Gym! Challenger Dawn versus Gym Leader Roark! The battle will be one-on-one! Let the battle begin!"


	6. Chapter 6

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Six

"Hah, Headbutt, Cranidos!" Roark smirked as his Cranidos charged and smashed Piplup over and over again. _This is too easy._

"Dawn! You have to do something! Don't just let Piplup get hit!" Lucas yelled from the sidelines.

_Gotta stop the attacks, gotta stop the attacks!_ Dawn bit her lip as yet another attack crashed into Piplup. Piplup was getting thrown all over the place, but Cranidos looked completely at ease.

"Finish this, Cranidos! Use Zen Headbutt!"

"Piplup!" Dawn cried. Piplup stood up shakily, and turned to face the oncoming attack. All at once, many things happened. Piplup turned white right before Cranidos slammed into him. Then, Piplup was sent backwards straight into a rock, all the while glowing white. Tumbling back, Piplup righted himself and released a blast of pure energy, blasting Cranidos backwards.

"Cranidos!" Roark cried.

"That was Bide!" said Dawn. "Piplup, hit Cranidos with a Bubble!" But, to her surprise, Piplup didn't just use Bubble. He used Bubblebeam, and launched hundreds of bubbles at Cranidos, who was surrounded by the swirling vortex of bubbles.

"Cranidos! Knock them away with Flamethrower!" Roark said.

"Cranidos!" Cranidos opened his mouth widely and let a stream of fire come forth, incinerating the bubbles.

"That's more like it!" Roark said. "Now, Flamethrower on Piplup!"

"Piplup, counter with Bubblebeam!" Dawn yelled.

Fire met water in the middle of the battle field, and immediately produced a thick steam that filled the interior of the Gym.

"Interesting," Roark said. "Be careful, Cranidos."

"Piplup! Use Bubblebeam once again!" Dawn said.

"Cranidos! Use Flamethrower!"

The Bubblebeam flew from every direction out of the fog; Flamethrower could only do so much against the attack. Swirling bubbles once again surrounded Cranidos, slowly whittling away health. Finally, from exhaustion, Cranidos plopped to the ground.

"Cranidos is unable to battle! Piplup is the winner, and the victory goes to Dawn of Twinleaf Town!" the referee said.

"Woohoo! Way to go, Piplup!" Dawn picked Piplup up and hugged him. Across the field, Roark called back Cranidos and rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly.

"Man! Three trainers in a row! Well, I can't do anything about it but train. As proof of your win here at the Oreburgh Gym, I present you the Coal Badge." Roark walked across the field, reaching Dawn the same time that Lucas did.

"Way to go, Dawn!" Lucas congratulated as Dawn inspected her new Badge.

"Thanks, Roark!" Dawn said.

"The thanks are all mine," he said. "I haven't had that much fun in awhile. Well, I guess I'll be seeing you!" Roark said.

Dawn and Lucas departed from the Gym after saying good-bye, and went back to the Pokémon Center.

"Well, now it's training time for the Contest," Lucas said as Dawn gave Piplup to Nurse Joy.

"Yeah," Dawn sighed. She looked outside at the Oreburgh Contest Hall, a great building with a stage and hundreds of seats.

"Well, I'll be training on the battlefield out back. How about you?" Lucas asked.

"I'll go to Route 207 to train with Piplup."

"Alright. See you later." Lucas left for his training, and Dawn grabbed Piplup once he was healed. Making sure to pack a few Poké Balls, Dawn ran out of the Pokémon Center to Route 207. Once there, she called out Piplup.

"Okay, Piplup. Time to work on some Contest moves! Spin around and use Bubblebeam!"

Piplup did so, letting a stream of bubbles fountain into the air. They slowly descended and surrounded Piplup.

"Now use… Bide!"

Piplup glowed white in the center of the bubbles, sending out streams of light in every direction. The light refracted and swirled once it hit the bubbles, each bubble adding a new twist to the light design. Dawn gasped. She didn't realize that it would be so beautiful. In the end, after the light traversed every last bubble, a plethora of colors shined brightly around Piplup.

"That'll look even better if I added pink bubbles from a Seal to the blue," Dawn muttered, after realizing that most of the colors were centered on darker shades, like blue, purple, black, and green.

"Alright, nice combination, Piplup! Now, let's try something else. Use – ah!" Dawn leapt backwards as a trumpeting horse nearly plowed her over.

A Ponyta stood there, snorting fiercely. Dawn grabbed her Pokédex and scanned it quickly.

_Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokémon:_

_As a newborn, it can barely stand. However, through galloping, its legs are made tougher and faster._

"Wow! A Ponyta!" Dawn could barely contain her excitement. Oh, it looked beautiful, standing their proudly, majestically with magnificent flames that flew wildly in the wind.

"Piplup! Let's catch Ponyta!" Dawn called. Piplup launched himself out of the bubbles and turned to face Ponyta. It trampled the ground fiercely, and launched an Ember attack.

"Piplup, counter with Bubblebeam, and then use Bubblebeam again!" Dawn said. The two attacks collided, but Piplup's second Bubblebeam flew through the steam from the fire and water attacks. The bubbles blasted away the steam, but Ponyta was nowhere to be seen.

"Piplup! Watch out!" Dawn trilled as Ponyta flew down from the sky. Lifting up a hoof, it neighed ferociously and squashed Piplup with the hoof.

"Piplup!" Dawn gasped. The small penguin tottered unsteadily to his feet, and Ponyta gave what sounded like a laugh a fair distance away. "That was a Stomp attack," Dawn said. "Alright, Piplup! Use Bubblebeam again!"

Piplup opened his beak wide, and let loose the attack again. Ponyta jumped up and span around multiple times, until it was surrounded by a fiery inferno. "Flame Wheel!" Dawn gasped. "Use Bide, Piplup!"

Piplup closed his beak and tucked his fins together, glowing white and getting ready for the attack. The spinning disk of fire that was Ponyta hurtled through Bubblebeam and blasted Piplup into the air. Piplup span around and around, encased in fire, as Ponyta landed on the ground. Piplup fell, glowing brighter and brighter from stored energy.

"Release it, now!" Dawn yelled. Piplup was just a few inches above Ponyta when he unleashed the built up energy, dealing a good amount of damage to Ponyta, who was sent crashing to the ground from the explosive force above it.

"Piplup! Use Bubblebeam on Ponyta, now!" Piplup used the attack once again against Ponyta, this time getting a direct hit. The attack not only damaged Ponyta, it made Piplup fly into the air as well. By the time Piplup landed on the ground, face-first, Dawn had thrown a Poké Ball at Ponyta. The pair waited with bated breath as the Poké Ball shook and trembled, center glowing red. But finally, with a resounding click, the Poké Ball stood still.

"Yes! Piplup, we did it!" Dawn picked up her Poké Ball. She released Ponyta and scanned it quickly for its moves, gender, ability, and other things.

"So, you're a girl? And you know Tackle, Growl, Tail Whip, Ember, Flame Wheel, and Stomp. Impressive!" Ponyta stood there, shaking her head. She had been captured?

"Piplup, Ponyta, you guys are my first two Pokémon. We're going to become great friends!"

Ponyta rolled her eyes, and Piplup jumped up and down happily. Piplup then tottered over to Ponyta. He raised a flipper. Ponyta looked at him with disdain, before raising a hoof to the flipper. Dawn smiled at the sight.

WHAM!

"Ah! Piplup! Ponyta, don't do that!" Dawn yelped. Ponyta had almost shaken her hoof with Piplup's flipper, but then used Stomp instead, smashing Piplup into the ground. By the time the dust cleared, Piplup was unconscious. "Piplup, return. And Ponyta, don't knock friends out, please?"

Ponyta simply neighed. Dawn sighed before calling her back as well. She trekked her way back to the Pokémon Center, where Lucas was training. Sighing, she went outside to watch him.

"Grotle, use Energy Ball! Beautifly, use Gust!" Beautifly's Gust whipped the Energy Ball high into the air, free for anyone to hit. "Now, Beautifly, use String Shot on Energy Ball and throw it back and Grotle! Grotle, use Razor Leaf to destroy it!"

The String Shot wrapped around the Energy Ball, and Beautifly sent it flying towards Grotle. Grotle released spinning leaves that sliced and pulverized the Energy Ball. The leaves then headed to Beautifly.

"Beautifly, dodge and then use Stun Spore!" Beautifly flew above the range of the Razor Leaf, and then flapped her wings to produce a yellow-orange powder that floated in the air.

"Grotle, get ready! Use Energy Ball and Razor Leaf to get rid of the Stun Spore. Beautifly, use String Shot."

Grotle summoned up Energy Ball, and then fired his Razor Leaf through it, making the leaves glow a beautiful green. He then launched the actual Energy Ball itself, which blocked Beautifly's String Shot. The Razor Leaf then tore openings in the Stun Spore, and the Energy Ball blasted a large opening as well.

"Okay guys, that's enough for today," Lucas said. "Great work! Now both of you, get some rest. Return." He called his Pokémon back and then walked over to Dawn. "How did your training go?"

"Great! I caught a Ponyta too!"

"A Ponyta? Way to go!"

Dawn nodded. "Oh!" she said. "I forgot! Mom wanted me to call her when I got the Coal Badge!" And with that, Dawn rushed to the video phones, leaving a slightly exasperated Lucas behind.

"Well, Dawn? Did you get your badge?" Johanna was sitting at the desk with Glameow, talking to Dawn.

"Of course! Did you think that I would lose?" Dawn said.

"Why, I did! No offense, Dawn," Johanna joked. Dawn sighed.

"Well, the Contest is in a little bit. I'll be training a lot. And I'll win it, just you see, Mom!" Dawn said.

"Not if I can count on it," said a voice from behind her.

"Oh, it's nice to see you, Lucas," Johanna said.

"Oh yeah?" Dawn said. "Well, there's no way I'll lose to you!"

Lucas chuckled. "Yeah, and when you lose, I'll hold it against you for the rest of your life."

"Oh, go away," said Dawn irritably.

"As you say, Miss Dawn," Lucas said. He even went as far as to give her a mock bow. "Good-bye, Johanna."

"Bye, Lucas."

Dawn sighed as Lucas left for their room. Everyone was teasing her again.

"You two bicker like an old married couple. I think he likes you," Johanna said. Dawn blushed. _Here we go again._

"For the last time, Mom," Dawn said, "we are not a couple!"

"I know you aren't. I know you will be, though." Johanna's words brought an even darker shade of red over Dawn's face.

"I'm leaving now! I have to… uh sleep!" Dawn said.

Johanna raised an eyebrow. "Sleep. Interesting that you need to sleep at four in the afternoon."

Dawn laughed nervously. "Uh, yeah! My, um, afternoon nap! Well, Mom, I'll call you later, okay?"

"You never had that habit before, but all right, dear. Go and 'sleep' to your heart's content."

Dawn got off of the video phone and headed to her and Lucas' room. They spent the rest of the day talking and roaming town, before finally turning in for the night after dinner.

For the next few days, they both trained feverishly for the looming Contest. Lucas, having already perfected his appeal routine, moved onto Contest moves and tactics. Dawn worked on tactics and her appeal at the same time. Finally, after what seemed like months for the two, the Contest day had arrived.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Oreburgh Pokémon Contest, where Coordinators meet to compete for the Oreburgh Ribbon, one ribbon that will lead the way for one Coordinator to the Sinnoh Grand Festival! I'm Marian, and here are your judges! Mr. Contesta! Mr. Sukizo! And our very own resident Nurse Joy!"

The three judges all nodded at the mention of their names. Dawn and Lucas, having changed into more formal clothes for the Contest, stood in the waiting room. Dawn was wearing a blue and yellow dress, while Lucas was wearing a simple tuxedo, and, for once, they both weren't wearing their hats.

Back on the stage, Marian was calling the Coordinators down one by one for their appeals.

"Now, for Coordinator number 14, it's Zoey of Snowpoint City!" A girl with a Misdreavus walked on stage, and had a wonderful appeal. Another man, Nando, used his Kricketune for another great appeal. And one strange woman, wearing pigtails and an orange dress, used a Seviper for her appeal.

"Now, here comes Coordinator number 17, Dawn of Twinleaf Town!" Dawn walked out on stage, where a tumultuous applause greeted her. She felt herself getting nervous, but reminded herself not to freak out.

"Ah, here comes Dawn," Johanna said. Sipping a cup of tea, she was watching the Contest on television with Glameow at Johanna and Dawn's house.

"Piplup! Spotlight!" Dawn threw Piplup's Poké Ball high into the air, where he was released with a blast of pink bubbles. "Piplup, use Bubblebeam!" Dawn said.

Piplup shot the Bubblebeam down from the air, causing the pink bubbles to be pushed down with the Bubblebeam. Piplup landed in the center of the swirling bubbles, as Dawn ordered him to use Bide.

The light of Bide reflected itself in the bubbles, and it changed color from white to numerous colors as the light passed through the pink and blue bubbles. The light eventually reached the end of all of the bubbles, and it looked like Piplup had surrounded himself with rainbows.

"Would you look at that?" Marian said. "A beautiful combination of Bubblebeam and Bide to create a magnificent display of colors!"

"That's not all," Dawn whispered. "Piplup, spin and use Bubblebeam once again!"

Piplup span quickly and released the Bubblebeam horizontally. The bubbles all floated up and eventually spanned the entire stage, floating above and next to everyone.

"A great use of Bide. I've never seen anyone do that before!" said Mr. Contesta.

"Remarkable!" said Mr. Sukizo.

"A truly magnificent display of colors," said Nurse Joy.

"Interesting," Johanna said from home. "I've never seen Bide used like that! So, my daughter does have some creativity…"

Dawn bowed with Piplup before leaving the stage. "That was great, Piplup!" Dawn said. Piplup proudly patted himself on his chest.

"Nice appeal, Dawn." Lucas had walked over.

"Thanks! I hope yours goes well too," Dawn said.

"I do too," Lucas muttered as his name was announced.

"And here is Coordinator number 18! It's Lucas of Sandgem Town!" Marian shouted.

Lucas ran out and tossed Grotle's Poké Ball into the air. "Energy Ball and Absorb, let's go!"

Grotle was released in a blast of confetti that landed on his back. He charged up the Energy Ball, but did it much slower, so the Absorb could meld with it. Finally, when the red and green sphere was large enough, Grotle fired it to the ceiling.

"Now use Razor Leaf!"

The sharp leaves whipped upwards toward the Energy Ball-Absorb combination, carrying with them the confetti from the Party Seal. The attack jammed into the Energy Ball, causing it to blow up into sparkles directly above Grotle and Lucas.

"An amazing combination is used to the full effect!" Marian said. "Those fireworks sure are great!"

"Grotle has excellent control," Mr. Contesta said. "He changed the speed at which he charged up his attacks! Very impressive."

"Remarkably remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo said.

"Yes, those fireworks are very beautiful, aren't they?" said Nurse Joy.

Lucas, once in the waiting room, saw Dawn talking with two people. He recognized them as Zoey, the girl with the Misdreavus, and Nando, the man with the Kricketune. He walked over to them and greeted everyone.

"That was a nice appeal," Zoey said. "I'm Zoey." Lucas shook hands with her and then turned to Nando.

"My name is Nando. I am a traveling minstrel," he said as he and Lucas shook hands.

"So, do you guys have any Ribbons yet?" Lucas asked. They both nodded.

"One ribbon," Zoey said.

"I have two," said Nando.

"Wow!" Dawn said. "Can I see them?"

Zoey and Nando pulled out their Ribbon Cases and showed their Ribbons.

"Mine's from a Snowpoint City Contest," Zoey said.

"I won a Jubilife and Hearthome City Contest," Nando said.

"So… I guess we'll be rivals then?" said Lucas.

Zoey smiled. "Guess so."

"And now that all of the Coordinators have finished their appeals," Everyone looked at the television in the waiting room that showed Marian, "we will now announce the 8 Coordinators going onto the quarterfinal round!"

8 pictures of Coordinator showed up on the screen, in order from first to eighth place. Dawn was in fourth place, Lucas was in fifth, Zoey was in second, and Nando was in seventh. Also, the pigtail girl had made it, winding up sixth place.

"Now we will announce the matchups for battles!" Marian said. The pictures grew smaller, and automatically paired up the 8 Coordinators. Dawn was going against the pigtail girl, whose name was Jessilina. Lucas was going against Nando, Zoey was going against a girl who had a Skitty, and two other Coordinators were battling.

Lucas and Nando glanced at each other, and Nando smiled. Meanwhile, across the room, Jessilina was laughing her head off.

"This will be exceptionally easy!" she was saying. Dawn headed over and confronted her head-on.

"Excuse me? Are you saying that I'm a pushover?" Dawn said.

"Of course I am!" Jessilina said.

"Well, we'll just see about that. We're the first battle!"

Jessilina paled. "Uh… okay…"

"Coordinators Jessilina and Dawn are facing off first today! The winner will go on to the semifinal round! You have five minutes, begin!" The clock on the scoreboard started.

"Seviper, come on out!" Jessilina threw her Poké Ball, which released Seviper in a cloud of black smoke.

"Ponyta, spotlight!" Ponyta was sent out in a flurry of fireballs, which scattered after Ponyta materialized.

"Seviper, use Haze!"

"Ponyta, jump and use Stomp on Seviper!"

Seviper opened its mouth and breathed out a black cloud of air, while Ponyta dodged it by jumping high into the air. Ponyta quickly extended a hoof, preparing to take out Seviper. _(Dawn: 100. Jessilina: 90.)_

"Oh, no, no, no. I won't let you win that easily! Seviper, use Wrap attack, and then Poison Tail!" Jessilina commanded.

Seviper waited until the last moment to dodge the attack by forming a circle with itself around Ponyta's hoof. It then snaked around Ponyta's leg and held on tight, swinging Ponyta around. Quickly unraveling itself, its tail turned purple, and it slashed Ponyta with it. Ponyta was sent flying into the Haze attack, and Dawn's points dropped.

"And Seviper quickly dodges that attack and strikes back with its own Poison Tail!" Marian announced. "Dawn's points won't like that!" _(Dawn: 70. Jessilina: 90.)_

Ponyta looked around wildly to try and find Seviper, who was coming in for a Bite attack.

"Ponyta! Just let them try and bite your Flame Wheel!" Dawn shouted. Jumping into an arc, Ponyta quickly span around and around into a fiery somersault. Seviper accidentally charged straight into Ponyta, and also accidentally crashed its mouth closed on the burning hot flames. Seviper immediately retreated from the Haze, which eventually cleared away.

"And Dawn uses a clever counterattack against Bite! It looks like Seviper doesn't like the heat!" Marian said. _(Dawn: 70. Jessilina: 75.)_

"Seviper, use Poison Tail!" Jessilina commanded.

"Ponyta, use Ember to stop Seviper from getting anywhere near you!"

Seviper tried to navigate through the small flames, but couldn't avoid them. Eventually, it succumbed to the attack and was blasted backwards.

"Let's finish this, Ponyta! Use Stomp!" Ponyta charged forward and jumped into the air. Raising a hoof, she descended down upon the struggling Seviper and stomped hard. Seviper immediately fainted from the attack, leaving Jessilina speechless.

An x showed on each of the judges' judge panels, signifying that Seviper was unable to battle.

"And Jessilina is knocked out of the competition by Ponyta and Dawn, with one minute and seventeen seconds left!" Marian announced.

Jessilina called Seviper back and calmly walked off of the stage, as did Dawn. Once out of sight of the crowd, Jessilina's anger began to spark.

"That was a great battle, Jessilina." Dawn tried to talk with the seething girl, but Jessilina lashed out.

"GREAT BATTLE? I LOST! TO A TWERPPETTE LIKE YOU! HOW DARE YOU DEFEAT ME?"

Dawn backed away slowly, laughing nervously as Jessilina began to rant. Dawn ran back to the waiting room, where everyone congratulated her. Zoey was up next, and she easily defeated the Coordinator against her with her Glameow. Then, the other two Coordinators battled with a Butterfree and a Shroomish. The Butterfree's Coordinator won the battle, and it was finally the last battle.

"Alright, here we go! The last battle of the quarterfinals, between Lucas and Nando! Begin!" Marian shouted.

"Kricketune, please come out!"

"Beautifly, you're on!"

Both of them decided to release their Pokémon with musical notes, and Nando immediately started.

"Kricketune, use Silver Wind!" His Kricketune put its arms together and slashed them outward, sending silver crescents at Beautifly.

"Beautifly, dodge it and then use Poison Sting!" Beautifly ducked under the attack and shot numerous purple stings at Kricketune, who countered with Fury Cutter, which knocked away the stings. _(Lucas: 90. Nando: 90.)_

"Kricketune, use Sing!"

"Beautifly, use Gust!"

The colored notes that materialized in front of Kricketune floated gently towards Beautifly, who blew them right back at Kricketune with Gust. Notes collided in midair and destroyed each other, leaving both Pokémon unharmed.

"Amazing! This battle is an even match!" Marian said. _(Lucas: 80. Nando: 75.)_

"Beautifly, use Shadow Ball!" Lucas said. Beautifly floated and concentrated, bringing up the attack successfully. In the waiting room, Dawn cheered.

"I didn't know that Beautifly could use Shadow Ball successfully!" Dawn said.

Beautifly launched the attack at Kricketune, who used X-Scissor to slice it apart. _(Lucas: 65. Nando: 75.)_

"Now Kricketune, use X-Scissor on Beautifly!" Nando commanded.

"Beautifly, use Tackle and Gust to counter!" said Lucas.

Kricketune brought its arms together, and they turned blue, while Beautifly surrounded itself with a current of air. The two attacks clashed in midair, but Beautifly successfully repelled Kricketune. _(Lucas: 65. Nando: 60.)_

"There's two minutes left on the clock. This match is nearly impossible to predict!" Marian said.

"Kricketune, use X-Scissor once again!"

"Beautifly, stop it with Stun Spore!"

Kricketune flew towards Beautifly, but was stopped in its tracks by a paralyzing Stun Spore.

"Watch out! Stun Spore has paralyzed Kricketune completely!" Marian said. _(Lucas: 65. Nando: 50.)_

"Now, Beautifly! Use Shadow Ball and Gust on Kricketune!" Lucas yelled.

Beautifly summoned Shadow Ball, but to give it extra speed and power, used Gust to back it up. The attacks headed straight for Kricketune, who was still struggling to move.

"Kricketune! Watch out! Use Fury Cutter!" Nando shouted worriedly.

However, his words were to no avail. Shadow Ball and Gust crashed into Kricketune, knocking him out immediately.

The x showed on each of the judges' panels again, and Marian announced, "Well, a great battle! Lucas is the winner, and we have now concluded our quarterfinals!"

Everyone was back in the waiting room again. Coordinators usually stayed throughout the entire Contest, even it they lost, as was the case with Jessilina and Nando.

Nando congratulated Lucas on his excellent win, and the semifinal matchups appeared on the television's screen.

Dawn was going up against Zoey, and Lucas was against the girl with the Butterfree.

"Our first semifinal battle is between Coordinators Dawn and Zoey! Five minutes, on the clock! Let's get started!" Marian yelled.

"Piplup! Spotlight!"

"Glameow, curtain!"

Piplup was released in pink bubbles, and Glameow was released among hundreds of stars.

"Glameow, use Shadow Claw first," Zoey said.

"Piplup, counter with Peck!" Dawn said excitedly.

Glameow and Piplup charged towards each other, and Glameow leaped over Piplup at the last second. Piplup charged on, carried by his momentum. (_Dawn: 90. Zoey: 100._)

"Now use Fury Swipes!" Zoey called.

"Piplup, turn around and use Pound!" Dawn said.

This time, the two attacks really did meet. It was flippers against claws as the two Pokémon attacked each other. Finally, Glameow leapt backwards. _(Dawn: 85. Zoey: 95.)_

"Piplup, use Bubblebeam!" Dawn commanded. Piplup sent the bubbles charging towards Glameow, who jumped up to avoid them.

"Now, Glameow, use Iron Tail!" Zoey yelled. Glameow's tail glowed white and Glameow started to bring it crashing down on Piplup.

"Piplup, use Bide!"

Piplup took the damage from Iron Tail, but then released it back twofold. Glameow was blasted backwards. _(Dawn: 80. Zoey: 80.)_

"And Dawn uses Bide for a great comeback! Here's Bide's other side! Beauty and ferocity, all in one!" Marian said.

"Now, Piplup, use Bubblebeam!"

The swirling bubbles met their mark this time, as Glameow winced from the bubbles bursting on it.

"Glameow, use Fury Swipes to get rid of those bubbles!" Zoey yelled.

Glameow put its claws up and scratched at the bubbles coming at it. The bubbles were delicate, and popped immediately after touching one of Glameow's sharp claws. _(Dawn: 70. Zoey: 70)_

"This match is neck-to-neck! Who will win, nobody knows! There is only one minute left on the clock!" Marian shouted excitedly.

"Glameow, get in close and use Iron Tail," Zoey said.

"Piplup, spin and use Bubblebeam!" Dawn said.

Glameow ran forward, but was met by a solid wall of bubbles. Zoey thought fast. There were only 30 seconds left, and she was behind on points. _(Dawn: 70. Zoey: 65)_

"Glameow, leap over those bubbles and use Iron Tail on Piplup!" Zoey ordered. However, she underestimated the width of the bubble wall. Glameow leapt up, but only made it halfway. Glameow ended up being trapped in bubbles, much to Zoey's chagrin. The buzzer for the end of the five minutes finally rang, and Dawn was in the lead.

"And after an intense battle, Dawn finally pulls through using a clever wall of bubbles to stop Glameow! Dawn moves on to the finals!" Marian shouted.

"An excellent battle on both sides," Mr. Contesta said.

"Indeed! Remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo said.

"A very impressive display of beauty and power," Nurse Joy said.

Dawn walked backstage, feeling extremely nervous. That last battle really scared her. Zoey was quite the Coordinator!

"Way to go, Dawn! I'll meet you in the finals if I can," Lucas said.

"What happened to, you would beat me?" Dawn retorted. Lucas grinned.

"I never said I would lose. I said I would meet you in the finals if I could."

Dawn waved a hand at him. "Oh, stop being so difficult, and win your battle!"

And indeed, as Dawn said, Lucas' Beautifly crushed the other Coordinator's Butterfree in a few minutes, bringing the two to the finals.

"And here is the much awaited final of the Oreburgh Contest!" Marian announced. "On the left, it's Dawn! On the right, it's Lucas! Which of these two Coordinators will win the Oreburgh Ribbon? We'll find out in five minutes or less! Start the clock, and let's get started!"

"Piplup, spotlight!"

"Beautifly, you're on!"

Hearts and stars filled the stage as the two Pokémon were released. Dawn immediately started on offense.

"Piplup, use Bubblebeam!" Piplup's Bubblebeam soared straight at the floating Beautifly. Lucas smiled.

"Use Gust!" he ordered.

Beautifly flapped her wings, and a strong wind immediately built up. She directed this wind at the bubbles and at Piplup, popping the bubbles and blowing Piplup into the air. _(Dawn: 85. Lucas: 100)_

"We've got him now! Use String Shot!" Lucas said.

Beautifly shot the sticky thread, and it stuck onto Piplup's flipper. Beautifly span around and around, wrapping Piplup from head to toe in the thread.

"Piplup, use Peck to get out of there!" Dawn called frantically.

A white light shined through the String Shot as Piplup tried to work his way free.

"Use Shadow Ball before he can get loose," Lucas said. Beautifly charged up the attack and sent Piplup flying. Piplup got free of the String Shot, though, and looked very peeved. _(Dawn: 70. Lucas: 100.)_

"Piplup, use Bubblebeam and then Peck on Beautifly!" Dawn said.

"Dodge the Bubblebeam and use Stun Spore," Lucas said.

Beautifly flew up over the bubbles and launched Stun Spore into Piplup's face. He fell to the ground as Dawn gasped. _Lucas did this against Nando too! I should have expected it!_

"Now, use Gust on the bubbles and blow them all against Piplup!" Lucas shouted.

"Watch out Piplup! Here's Lucas' strategy at work again, Stun Spore and then attack!" Marian said.

The bubbles flew with lots of force at Piplup, but also freed Piplup from Stun Spore's grasp, as the water rinsed the powder away. _(Dawn: 55. Lucas: 90.)_

"Now, use Gust and Tackle, Beautifly!" Lucas called.

"Piplup, use Peck to take that attack straight on," said Dawn.

Piplup used Peck and collided with the tip of the Gust shield around Beautifly. His sharp beak peeled away at the Gust until there was a gaping hole. Piplup soared through it, scoring a direct hit on Beautifly. _(Dawn: 55. Lucas: 75.)_

"A beautiful counter by Dawn," Marian said. "But Lucas is still in the lead!"

"Piplup, use Bubblebeam!"

"Beautifly, use Tackle right through the bubbles!"

Beautifly's Tackle popped all of the bubbles, and drew the watery remnants to the wind current formed by Tackle. Piplup jumped backwards, but Beautifly was now surrounded by a watery encasement. _(Dawn: 40. Lucas: 75.)_

"Add String Shot!" Lucas said. The sticky thread flew from Beautifly's mouth and began to spin in the same direction as Beautifly. Piplup was ensnared again and was then bashed into the wall with the water-Tackle. Sliding to the ground, everyone saw that he had fainted.

Dawn saw the red x on Mr. Contesta's panel first, and sighed. Lucas was just too good.

"And that's that! With one minute to go, Lucas pulls off a great win by using Dawn's own attacks against her! The Ribbon presentation ceremony will take place in a few minutes!" Marian said.

The two walked off stage. Later, when Lucas was standing on the podium, Dawn was quietly crying in the changing room. Having already switched back to her normal clothes, she sat there sadly.

"Don't worry, Dawn," a voice said. Dawn looked up. It was Zoey, dressed in her own casual clothing, which consisted of jeans, a red shirt and an orange vest. "Lucas is a good Coordinator. You'll need to train lots to beat him. And besides, it's just one Contest, right? There's plenty more."

Dawn shakily nodded. "Thanks, Zoey," she said quietly as her tears subsided.

"Now, why don't we go congratulate your boyfriend?" asked Zoey innocently.

"WOULD EVERYONE STOP WITH THE BOYFRIEND?" Dawn shouted good-naturedly.

"But isn't he your boyfriend?" said Zoey curiously.

Dawn sighed. _She and Mom put together equals disaster for me…I'm just glad that they've never met._

They left the changing room and congratulated Lucas on his Oreburgh Ribbon. It had a gold piece in the center shaped like a pawn in chess and was formed by four outlying pieces of brown and black cloth. He carefully tucked it away in his Ribbon Case and thanked everyone who congratulated him.

Meanwhile, at home, Johanna was thinking about the match. "No doubt about it, that Lucas is a strong Trainer _and_ Coordinator," she said absentmindedly to Glameow, who purred in response. "Dawn won't have an easy time beating him."

"We'll see you guys at the next Contest!" Dawn shouted.

"Definitely! Don't miss out!" Lucas yelled.

They were saying farewell to Nando and Zoey, who had to get going to get to the next city in time. They both waved good-bye to Dawn and Lucas, who stood there next to each other.

"Well, I suppose we'd better leave for Eterna City now," Lucas said. "That's where the next Gym is, although we could stop for a Contest in Floaroma Town." The two were back in their room at the Pokémon Center. Lucas was reading the Contest rulebook and Dawn was playing on the floor with Piplup.

"Of course we should!" Dawn said. "Then I can get you back for today!"

Lucas chuckled. Dawn suddenly started as a thought came to mind.

"Hey Lucas, how do so many people get into the Sinnoh Grand Festival if there are barely enough cities and towns that hold Contests for two people? Does each city host more than one Contest? Zoey and Nando said they won Ribbons from _a _Contest from places," she asked.

"That's what I wondered at first as well, but the rulebook says that each city and town that holds a Contest doesn't just hold one. Each one holds many over the course of a year until the Sinnoh Grand Festival. The rule is, though, you can't win a Ribbon from a city whose Contest you have already won. So, I won't be able to compete in another Oreburgh Contest until after the Grand Festival, when you have to start over collecting Ribbons."

Dawn nodded to show her understanding. "And what happens if two people are left with the same amount of points at the end of five minutes?" she asked.

"They both win. It's never happened at the Grand Festival before, but it has happened at a few Contests. It says it all right here in the rulebook. You should read it," he added, "instead of asking me every question about the rules!"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Okay. I guess I've got plenty of chances to get my five Ribbons then!"

"You do," Lucas chuckled. "But now, we need to get our sleep. We're leaving bright and early tomorrow so we can get to Floaroma Town. The Contest there is in a few days, so we'll have enough time to rest and train."

"Alright, alright. Piplup, return," said Dawn. The two, after an hour of fussing, packing, and organizing, fell asleep. They didn't know that tomorrow, their lives would change. As for that, neither did Team Galactic.


	7. Chapter 7

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Seven

"Do we have to?" Dawn moaned as she stared at the rocky outcropping. Lucas nodded.

"It's the shortest way to Jubilife City."

"Then let's go the longer way!"

"Do you want to get to Floaroma for the Contest or what?"

Dawn sighed. "I hate this place."

The two plunged back into Oreburgh Gate, and were once again chased and terrorized by the numerous wild Pokémon there.

They finally emerged on the other end, exhausted and annoyed.

"I agree with you, I hate that place," Lucas gasped.

"_Now_ you see what I mean!" Dawn wheezed as she clutched her stomach, gasping from the Onix chase.

They eventually collected themselves and biked to Jubilife City, where they took a brief break for breakfast. They then started onto Route 204 to get to Floaroma. A few trainers challenged them to battles, but that was simple enough to handle.

"A cave… I hope it's not like Oreburgh Gate." Lucas and Dawn arrived outside of a small entrance into a barren face of rock.

Lucas walked to the sign and said, "The Ravaged Path, hmm? That's a cheery name. It doesn't seem too long." He had pulled out his Town Map and examined it.

"Nope. I hope it's not infested with Onix," Dawn shuddered, recollecting the huge Pokémon that chased the two in Oreburgh Gate..

"Well, let's get going."

After a surprisingly short period of time, seeing as they only had to walk up a set of stairs and destroy a few rocks, they entered out onto the north side of Route 204. After a few minutes of walking, it was noon and the duo had arrived in Floaroma Town.

"Can you smell that?" Dawn breathed in the scent of the town.

"Yeah… there must be hundreds of flowers here," Lucas said as he stared at the small town. There wasn't much too see, really. Some houses, a Pokémon Center, a flower shop, and the Contest Hall. Oh, and Floaroma Meadow, of course.

Dawn instinctively walked over to the Pokémon Center, and noticed a small poster taped to the outside of it.

"A Poffin-making class will be available today, from 2:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon. Anyone is welcome to come. We provide the Berries," Dawn read.

"A Poffin class? We might as well go. We'll need Poffins for our Pokémon in Contests to improve the conditions of our Pokémon," Lucas said as he read the sign as well.

"2:30? We'll have just enough time for lunch, and then we can make Poffins! I've made some before for my family's Glameow. She used to be a great Pokémon in Contests. My mom won the Sinnoh Grand Festival with her and her Umbreon!" Dawn said.

They went into the Pokémon Center and hurriedly booked a room, before registering for the Floaroma Contest, which was due to take place in three days.

"You're lucky we even have a room left," said Nurse Joy. "We're such a small town, so we don't have many rooms. Then, all these Coordinators come for the Contest, and we're flooded! I keep asking for more room, but no one will listen. Alright, everything's set. Good luck on the Contest!"

"Thanks," said Lucas and Dawn. They quickly ate lunch, and spent a good thirty minutes doing nothing, until it was time for the Poffin class. It took place in the flower shop, and, surprisingly, the only people there were Dawn and Lucas. A girl, which they presumed to be the teacher, introduced herself there.

"I'm Forsythia," she said cheerfully. "I'll help you two to learn how to make Poffins today, so let's get ready! I've got all the Berries you'll ever need here, let's go to the kitchen!"

They walked into a small room with many pots and pans and a stove. Two pans were already set aside from the other, and were filled with a batter. There were also many pots in here, filled with different kinds of Berries. A Lotad and a Roserade were tending to them, but the moment that Lucas and Dawn came in, Roserade fled to the garden outside, with Lotad in tow.

"I'm sorry," Forsythia apologized. "Roserade is just a little nervous around people. She was injured as a Budew, and I found her at the Pokémon Center under the care of Nurse Joy. I gladly took her in, and she evolved."

"Oh, alright," said Dawn, relieved that she hadn't done anything wrong.. "So, will we start now?"

"Of course! You can take your pick of Berries. We've got plenty. I'll demonstrate how to make them for you if you don't know," said Forsythia.

"I know how to make them, so I'll get started!" Dawn rushed to a batter-filled pan and yanked it over a stove. She then began to warm up the batter as she looked for good berries.

"So you don't know how to make Poffins?" asked Forsythia.

"No," said Lucas.

"Alright. So first, you pick your Berry and put it into the batter. Then, when the Berries have just been added, stir slower so you won't spill the batter. Then, stir faster once the batter changes its color, and pour the batter into these molds here once the batter is still liquid, but thick." Forsythia did this all, and in about ten minutes, prepared a dozen yellow Poffins.

Lucas had been taking some notes so he wouldn't forget, and nodded as he saw the Poffins harden in the molds. "So, depending on what condition it raises, the Poffin can be red, green, yellow, pink, or blue?"

Forsythia smiled. "That's right. Do you want to try?"

Lucas nodded eagerly. "Of course!"

As Forsythia filled another pot with batter, Dawn finished making her set of Poffins, which turned out to be pink.

"Alright! Piplup and Ponyta, come on out! Try my Poffins!" Dawn knelt down, and handed a bowl filled with her Poffins to the two. "Try them and tell me what you think!"

Piplup and Ponyta exchanged nervous glances and hesitated to eat them. In the end, they both took a Poffin at the same time and nibbled at it. Slowly, they swallowed.

"Well?" asked Dawn. Piplup and Ponyta, in response, gagged. Dawn looked crestfallen.

"Is it that bad? Glameow loves these…"

"Well, you have to remember that different Pokémon like different Poffins. Why don't you try again? Lucas is starting his batch," said Forsythia, who had come over to see the result of Dawn's work. "Your Poffins look great, though."

"Thanks! I'll try again."

Lucas had called his Pokémon out, and had cut up Berries that he wanted to use. Taking a small piece of each Berry, he fed them to his Pokémon to see if they liked the Berry's taste or not. Grotle and Beautifly seemed to enjoy the sweeter Berries, so Lucas decided to use some Mago Berries for his Poffins. Forsythia came over to check on what he was doing.

"That's a great idea, Lucas! First check what flavor your Pokémon likes, and then use the specific Berry!" she exclaimed, watching him as he fed the pieces of Berry to Beautifly and Grotle. Lucas thanked her and began to slowly churn the batter.

"That's it," Forsythia said. "Slowly at first and faster as it thickens."

Lucas was soon spinning as fast as he could just to make sure that the batter wouldn't burn. Finally, he grabbed the pot and poured out a pink batter into a mold. After a few minutes, the Poffins had hardened and he gave them to Beautifly and Grotle. Grotle swallowed five whole, and Beautifly slowly made her way through one. They both loved the taste, making Lucas laugh.

"Nice Poffins, Lucas." Forsythia saw his Pokémon jump up and down in excitement and had come over to see his Poffins. "Do you have a container for them?"

"No," said Lucas.

"I'll give you a Poffin Case if you like," Forsythia said. "And I suppose you'll need some Berries too. You should be able to make Poffins in any town that hosts Pokémon Contests, so you don't need to make a bunch here. You can make as many as you want though," she added as she saw Grotle gulp down five more of Lucas' Poffins. She went off to search for a Poffin Case for Lucas just as Dawn exclaimed that she was finished. The Poffins she made were pink again, but, unlike her previous Poffins, consisted of sweet-taste only Berries. She dumped the twelve Poffins into another bowl (after trashing her old ones) and asked Piplup and Ponyta to taste them again.

Piplup, feeling queasy, declined. Ponyta took one in her mouth and bit off a small edge. Swallowing, her eyes lit up, and she furiously gobbled the rest. Piplup, now looking at the Poffins with interest, was soon gulping them down as well.

"Looks like all of our Pokémon have a sweet tooth." Lucas grinned at Dawn, who sighed.

"If Pokémon get cavities, I'm going to be in lots of trouble…"

"Roserade!"

"Lo, lo, lotad!"

Lucas and Dawn whipped their heads up and looked outside from the kitchen window. Roserade and Lotad seemed to be attacking… Dawn and Lucas both rubbed their eyes with their hands. Nope, they weren't seeing things. Two strange men, dressed in spacesuit-like clothing, were stealing Berries from Forsythia's garden. They also had bright turquoise hair cut in bowl cuts that Dawn giggled furiously at. They had sent out a Stunky and a Zubat to battle Roserade and Lotad.

"Stunky, use Slash on those annoying pests."

"Zubat, use Wing Attack."

They emotionlessly commanded their Pokémon to attack, and Lotad and Roserade were knocked back. Roserade jumped up and blasted the two Pokémon with a Magical Leaf attack, and Lotad used Water Gun. The attacks pushed the strange men's Pokémon back, but didn't stop them. The men tried to take Berries while their Pokémon battled with Forsythia's Pokémon. Lucas, Dawn, and Forsythia all ran outside.

"Stop!" Forsythia yelled. "You have no right to steal other people's things!"

The strange men ignored her and shoved as many Berries as they could into bags.

"I have to stop them," Forsythia cried. "But… my Pokémon are battling. Could you two help me while I go help my Pokémon?" She looked to Dawn and Lucas who nodded.

Forsythia ran off, while Dawn and Lucas ran around the men to stop their escape. They called out Ponyta and Beautifly, which made the men look up. Both of them sent out a Golbat.

They both said, "Shadow Ball." The Golbat charged up the attack, and Dawn quickly interfered.

"Ponyta, use Stomp on those two attacks!" Ponyta leapt forward and crushed the two Shadow Ball attacks to the ground, but both Golbat quickly responded by using Bite on Ponyta. Ponyta reared up as the two Golbat's fangs sank into her back.

"Beautifly, use Gust!" A strong wind whipped the two Golbat off of Ponyta before they could do more damage as Beautifly flew in to help Ponyta.

"Get out of our way," one of the men said calmly.

"You don't want to interfere with Team Galactic," said the other.

Meanwhile, in the Galactic Headquarters of Eterna City, a blue haired man wearing a similar outfit to the two men whacked himself.

"Those idiotic grunts," he hissed. "Why are they stealing Berries? I told them to guard Valley Windworks!" Slamming his fists onto the keyboard of his computer, he sighed. He had been watching the whole scene from a camera attached to one of the grunt's suits. He suddenly snapped his head up to stare at the screen. Those two trainers… they were strong. He could tell. The girl didn't seem to be as good as the boy, though. He thought carefully. He'd watch them for awhile, and then make his move. _This could all turn out wonderfully._ Smiling sinisterly, he watched Dawn and Lucas do battle from the two grunts' point of view.

"Golbat, use Air Cutter." Once again, the two men spoke simultaneously, ordering their Pokémon to use Air Cutter. The Golbat opened their mouths wider, if that was even possible, and blue, s-shaped disks of energy flew from their mouths.

Lucas and Dawn both called out frantically to their Pokémon, extremely worried as the attack slammed into the two Pokémon head-on, inflicting lots of damage.

"Once again, Air Cutter."

The attack came again, but Ponyta was too weak from the Bite attacks to do anything. Beautifly flew up and flapped her wings hard, using Gust. The Air Cutter, however, managed to slice right through the wind current, and blasted Beautifly back. Ponyta and Beautifly were exhausted, but both Golbat were barely scratched. From across the garden, they heard Forsythia yell, "Sunny Day!"

The sun suddenly intensified. Beams of light flew down and seemed to lash out at everyone present, and the Golbat had to squint so much that their eyes were barely open.

"Now use Solarbeam!" Forsythia's Roserade blasted the Zubat and the Stunky, so the two men called their Pokémon back.

"Our Pokémon are too exhausted," Dawn said worriedly.

"Golbat, use Wing Attack," said one of the men. One of Golbat's wings turned white, and it flew straight at Ponyta. Suddenly, a Petal Dance flew from the side, bashing the Golbat backwards. Beautifly tottered into the air and her wings began to glow. Everyone, including the men, stared, momentarily distracted. The glow slowly spread throughout Beautifly's body, and when it disappeared, Beautifly looked as though she hadn't battled at all.

The men seemed extremely annoyed at the time that Beautifly decided to use that move.

"That was Morning Sun!" Forsythia cried. "It was made stronger by Roserade's Sunny Day!"

"We're out of here," said the men. They dropped the Berries and ran away from the shop, out of Floaroma Town.

The blue-haired man in the Galactic Headquarters slammed the keyboard again.

"Thos idiotic grunts," he yelled. "When I want them to do something, they don't, and when I don't want them to do something, they do! Do they _live_ to infuriate me?"

"Cool off, Saturn." A purple-haired woman addressed the angry man. "Mars will take care of those stupid kids if they bother to stick their noses into any more of our business. Anyways, for all those brats know, those two grunts were just common thieves."

"The grunts were wearing _our uniforms, Jupiter._ Plus, I wanted to examine those two kids. Unlike you, I actually try to do things."

The woman, Jupiter, snarled. "Oh, are you saying that I'm useless?"

"No, I'm saying that you are lazy," Saturn replied indifferently.

"I'll show you lazy… when I surpass you in Team Galactic…" Jupiter whispered.

"Who were those people?" Forsythia asked. They were back in the kitchen again, making more Poffins. As thanks for saving her garden, Forsythia gave Dawn and Lucas tons of Berries, so many that they could barely fit it into their bags.

"I think they said something about not interfering with Team Galactic, whatever that is," Dawn said. She was slowly stirring a fresh batch of Poffins, so that she would have enough until the next Contest.

"I think I've heard of them," Lucas said. Thinking hard, he said, "I think they're some sort of group trying to find alternative energy."

"Hmm… but why would they steal my Berries?" Forsythia asked.

Dawn shrugged. "Who knows?" She scooped the dozen Poffins she had just made out of the mold and dumped them into her Poffin Case untidily. Lucas, on the other hand, put his Poffins into his new Poffin Case one by one in neat rows, slowly filling it up.

"Well, anyways, thieving Team Galactic aside, if you've come to Floaroma Town," Forsythia said cheerfully, "then you've got to see Floaroma Meadow and Valley Windworks."

"I've heard about Valley Windworks," Dawn said. "Doesn't it generate wind energy?"

Forsythia smiled. "That's right! And Floaroma Meadow is where the Contest Hall is, so you might want to check that out to!"

"Alright," said Lucas. He had filled up the bottom part of the Poffin Case. "That's 50 Poffins. Forsythia, do you mind if we go look at those places and come back later?"

"Of course not, even though this class was only supposed to go until 4:30," said Forsythia, noting that it was already 5:00 in the afternoon. "Go ahead!"

Dawn and Lucas thanked Forsythia for letting them use all of her ingredients and things before leaving with their much heavier bags. They headed for Valley Windworks first, by following Route 205 until they got there. However, a small girl on Route 205 was sobbing, and Dawn couldn't help but ask her, "Are you alright?"

"What's wrong?" asked Lucas gently.

"It's… it's… awful! M—my d—dad was k—k—kidnapped! He's in V—Valley Windworks! A—A lady's got him working on the wind energy! They… they th—threw me out b—before I could d—do anything!"

Lucas looked at the building. "Let's go check it out," he said to Dawn. Turning to the girl, he said, "We'll get your dad back in no time!"

The girl nodded. Dawn and Lucas ran the rest of the way to Valley Windworks and went straight to the doors. Two men stood there, and Dawn gasped.

"You two! What are you doing here?"

They glanced at her. Looking at each other, they shrugged. That was all Dawn and Lucas saw before a cold, empty darkness fell over them. The grunts nodded at the other grunt that was hidden behind a tree. The three men lugged Lucas and Dawn into the grass next to the river. They were completely hidden from view. One of the men said, "They'll be dealt with later, by Mars."

The grunt that stood behind the tree went inside, and the other two Berry-stealers stood outside to guard the entrance once again.

Forsythia was worried. They said that they were going to look and would be right back, yet it was already night! She decided to bring Roserade with her. She went to Floaroma Meadow first, searching for them.

Meanwhile, at Valley Windworks, a small blue-green blob crawled out of the water. It slowly made its way to Lucas. It looked at him, as if wondering why anyone would be sleeping here. It summoned up a sphere of water, and pelted Lucas' face with it. Lucas' eyes snapped open at the blast of water and almost yelled out had the blob not shoved a Berry from Lucas' bag in his mouth.

Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he saw the little thing that woke him up. Ignoring the throbbing pain in the back of his head, he looked at the thing queerly, he said, "What kind of Pokémon are you?"

The little blue-green blob looked back up with looming eyes. Lucas sighed and grabbed his Pokédex.

_Shellos, the Sea Slug Pokémon:_

_Beware of pushing strongly on its squishy body, as it makes a mysterious purple fluid ooze out._

"A Shellos?" Lucas said. "But… aren't there two kinds of Shellos? West Sea and East Sea if I remember correctly. You look like an East Sea Shellos, but you don't have the right color. And, what are you doing in the west side of Sinnoh if you're an East Sea Shellos?" He looked around and saw the unconscious Dawn.

"Oh shoot! Gotta wake her up." Lucas cupped his hands together and gathered some water. He dumped it over Dawn's face, and she slowly twitched. Gasping, she sat upright, grasping the back of her head.

"What happened? All I remember is being hit on the head really hard by something…"

Lucas grimaced. "I should've figured. That Team Galactic isn't what they seem."

Dawn caught sight of the strange Shellos. "Hello," she said to it. "What are you doing here?"

"Shellos! Shellos, shellos!" It pointed its head at Lucas and summoned a sphere of water again, which it blasted into a tree.

"It used Water Pulse to wake me up, but look at it. It's definitely an East Sea Shellos, so why is it on the west side of Sinnoh?" Lucas said.

Suddenly, they heard rustling.

"Team Galactic! They must've heard us!" Dawn quickly grabbed Lucas, who, in turn, grabbed Shellos. They got behind a tree so the men couldn't see them. The two men walked into the clearing and groaned.

"We're only grunts! We can't afford to make mistakes!"

"They got away!"

"Quick, we could still find them and pretend nothing happ—!"

Sticky blobs of mud were being forcefully propelled at the back of the grunts' heads, successfully rendering them unconscious.

"Wow! Nice Mud Bomb!" Lucas said, as the strangely colored East Sea Shellos closed its mouth.

"They're grunts?" Dawn giggled as she glanced at the two unconscious men.

"Quick! Let's get into the building!" Dawn and Lucas ran towards the door, accompanied by the Shellos, who figured that it might as well join them. After all… it had no one else to go to.

As soon as they opened the doors, Dawn and Lucas were surrounded by a veritable army of Stunky, Glameow, and Golbat.

"Stop the intruders!" An orange-haired woman was at the edge of the room, interrogating a man. For a brief moment, she turned her head to look at them. Both wearing hats… strange blue hair… a girl and a boy… yes these must be the interfering duo that Saturn had told her about.

"Crush them!"

All of the Golbat and Glameow used Shadow Ball, while the Stunky used Poison Gas. Shellos immediately moved in front of Dawn and Lucas and used Water Pulse. A wall of swirling water was brought up around Dawn and Lucas, protecting them for the moment.

"Alright, Grotle, Beautifly! Come on out!"

"Piplup, Ponyta, help out!"

All four of their Pokémon came out, and Shellos used Hidden Power. The orbs blasted out of the vortex of water at random points, immediately causing whatever Pokémon that was unlucky enough to get hit to faint. The Water Pulse wall collapsed, and Dawn and Lucas were ready.

"Beautifly, Gust! Grotle, Razor Leaf!"

"Piplup, Bubblebeam! Ponyta, Ember!"

The attacks, in addition with Shellos' Mud Bomb, blasted a path through the Pokémon. In a few minutes, the grunts ran away, screaming, as all of their Pokémon had been defeated.

"Where is the data?" Mars screeched. The man seemed extremely scared. Mars gave satisfied smile. Scared people gave in easily.

"Stop!" Lucas yelled. Mars whipped around to see the grunts fleeing. Cursing, she pulled out a Poké Ball.

"You think you're good enough to beat me, you blue-haired idiots? Purugly, stop them!" She threw the Poké Ball, releasing a cat-like Pokémon that was extremely large.

"Blue-haired idiots?" Dawn said indignantly as she started to move for her Pokédex. _She's one to talk! She's the one with _orange_ hair!_

Before she could reach her Pokédex, Lucas whispered, "Not now! Later. We need to get rid of that Pokémon first!" Dawn nodded.

"Purugly, use Shadow Ball!" Mars said venomously.

The cat opened its mouth and blasted a Shadow Ball at Dawn and Lucas' Pokémon. Beautifly sent a Shadow Ball of her own hurtling towards the attack to intercept it, while Grotle used Energy Ball. The attacks exploded on contact, and Purugly rushed in with an Iron Tail. Tail glowing white, it smashed Ponyta to the ground, immediately making her faint. Dawn gasped and recalled Ponyta and then ordered Piplup to use Bubblebeam.

"You won't win that easily," Mars hissed as the bubbles bashed Purugly. "Use Fury Swipes!"

Purugly's claws grew bigger and sharper, and it slashed at the bubbles madly, destroying every last one of them. Finally, for an ending, it used Fury Swipes to take out Grotle. Lucas called back Grotle and bit his lip.

_We're down to two Pokémon… and her Purugly is barely tired._ "Beautifly, use Gust!"

The wind whipped at Purugly's fur, but Mars screamed, "Hyper Beam!"

An orange ball charged up at Purugly's mouth, quickly gaining power. With one final hiss, it blasted it at Beautifly.

"Dodge it, Beautifly!" Lucas yelled. _Perfect!_

Beautifly did a midair flip and twirl to get beneath the Hyper Beam. Purugly, exhausted for a moment from the attack, needed to recharge.

"Beautifly, use Stun Spore!" Beautifly flew in and spread the orange powder over the man, Mars, and Purugly.

All three of them stopped moving completely. Well, Mars was still screeching, "NO! NO! NO!" and Purugly was meowing pitifully before Piplup and Beautifly ended the battle with a Bubblebeam-Gust attack. Purugly was thrown into the air, and crashed to the ground, unconscious. Shellos sneaked behind the man and used Water Pulse on him to free him from the clutches of Stun Spore.

"Thank you!" the man gasped. Shellos beamed at him. Unfortunately, the Water Pulse also freed Mars, slightly dampening Shellos' spirits.

Mars called back her Purugly and ran straight out the doors and disappeared within minutes, but everyone distinctly heard her scream, "Mark my words! You'll regret the day that you interfered with Team Galactic!"

The man was the crying girl's father, and the girl was extremely happy to see him. Dawn and Lucas were invited to stay the rest of the night at Valley Windworks, which had spare beds. They agreed, and slept for what was left of the night. The man explained, before everyone fell asleep, that Team Galactic was searching for ways to retrieve more energy from wind. He had refused to tell them, and he was held hostage while he was interrogated.

The next morning, the four humans and the Shellos sat in the recreational room eating breakfast.

"Shellos! Shellos!" Shellos was sitting on a window as Dawn and Lucas ate breakfast with the man and the girl. Apparently, the man was the owner of Valley Windworks. Lucas looked over at Shellos, who seemed to be beckoning them.

Lucas got up and went over to the window, looking outside. "Wow! Dawn, look, Drifloon!"

Dawn leapt out of her seat and rushed to the window. Purple, balloon-like Pokémon were indeed dropping down from the sky.

"Oh, the Drifloon are back, Papa!" the little girl cried.

"Oh, yes, the Drifloon! They come every Friday to the plant, but they didn't come last week because of that awful Team Galactic. They're back again, right on time!"

Dawn quickly scanned them.

_Drifloon, the Balloon Pokémon:_

_Because of the way it floats aimlessly, an old folktale calls it a "Signpost for Wandering Spirits."_

"They're so cute!" Dawn said, giggling as she hugged one. It, and three others, suddenly grabbed her hands and attempted to float away with her, but they barely managed to achieve an inch of elevation off the ground. Dawn, gasping, was dropped back onto the solid earth, while the four Drifloon floated to join the large group of Drifloon, looking utterly exhausted.

Shellos suddenly used Water Pulse on Lucas' neck. Turning around he looked at Shellos indignantly.

"What was that for?" he asked as Dawn giggled. Shellos stared at him reproachfully before using Water Pulse again.

Lucas glared at it and sent out Grotle. "Do you want to battle me or something?" Shellos seemed to have been waiting for this, because it automatically switched its position to a battling stance (not that Dawn or Lucas could tell what a battling stance for a slug was).

Shellos blasted Water Pulse at Grotle, who ripped the water sphere apart with an Energy Ball. Shellos used Hidden Power to pulverize the Energy Ball, but Grotle knocked the shining spheres out of the way with a Razor Leaf. Shellos cried out as it was slashed backwards and retaliated with a Mud Bomb. Opening its mouth wide, it shot numerous balls of mud straight at Grotle.

"Grotle, use Absorb!" Grotle, however, instead of shooting a red beam at Shellos, sent a green beam that surrounded Shellos in a red outline when it hit. Meanwhile, Grotle's wounds healed. Grotle then charged forward and clamped his mouth down hard on Shellos' head.

"Mega Drain and Bite?" said Lucas incredulously, as Shellos was struggling to get its head free. Finally, by using a combination of Water Pulse and Mud Bomb into Grotle's mouth, Grotle leapt away from Shellos, looking vaguely bewildered at the nasty remnants of the attacks in his mouth, while Shellos recollected himself. Looking exhausted, Shellos had almost collapsed.

"Alright, Poké Ball, go!" Lucas threw his Poké Ball true and hard, punching Shellos backwards with the force. The Poké Ball flew into the air after entrapping Shellos inside, and started to wobble fiercely in midair. Once it hit the ground, though, Shellos blasted out of it in a swarm of sparkles.

Dawn simply gaped, while Lucas took a more practical approach. "No wonder Shellos is a different color!" he said. "It's a Shiny Pokémon! Also known as an alternatively-colored Pokémon, it is a different color from a normal Pokémon of its kind. That still doesn't explain why it's on the west side of Sinnoh though," he finished thoughtfully, seemingly thinking about the possibilities.

Shellos shook itself and sent another Hidden Power hurtling towards Grotle. Lucas told Grotle to counter with Mega Drain, which absorbed the Hidden Power. The Mega Drain, now a white-infused green, took Shellos completely off guard; it collapsed, and another Poké Ball hit its head. The Poké Ball shook and flailed, but barely. The loud ping sound signified that Shellos was captured.

Lucas cheerfully exclaimed, "I caught a Shiny Shellos!" He quickly released at scanned it, finding out that it was a boy, and knew Water Pulse, Mud Bomb, Hidden Power, Mud-Slap, and Harden.

"Congratulations!" Dawn said.

"Yeah! And I was really lucky to catch a Shiny Shellos. I'll need to call Professor Rowan right away!"

Dawn nodded. "Well," she said, turning to face the owner of Valley Windworks and his daughter, "we'll be going back to Floaroma Town now. We'll visit if we can!"

"Alright! Good-bye!" the owner said.

"Alright! Back to Floaroma Town and the flower shop—oh no! Forsythia!" Dawn shrieked.

"You're right! We were gone for an entire day! Quick, let's get back!"

Forsythia had just sat down with her lunch, sighing about Dawn and Lucas going missing, when they burst through the door, gasping. Standing up, Forsythia ran over to them.

"What happened? You two scared me to death, vanishing for a day like that!"

In gasps and pauses, Dawn and Lucas explained the whole ordeal. Forsythia frowned. "So Team Galactic isn't as innocent as we thought. I'll tell Officer Jenny. You two take a breather, and I want to see your new Pokémon, Lucas!" She then left the two to their own devices, since she needed to find Officer Jenny.

Dawn bustled right over to the kitchen and grabbed Berries of different flavors.

"Here!" Dawn said, shoving them into Lucas' arms. "You'll need Poffins for Shellos!"

"Of course," Lucas said. He dumped the Berries onto the table and split them into piles based on their flavor. He called out Shellos, and was still surprised at the sparkles that surrounded him.

"Alright, I want you to try these Berries," Lucas said. He cut up the Berries he thought might work and fed them to Shellos. Shellos seemed to enjoy spicy and sweet Berries, yet also had a small taste for sour Berries. Dawn quickly poured batter into a pot for Lucas, and helped to find the right Berries. He poured some Qualot Berries into the pot and began to make the Poffins. By the time Forsythia came back, Shellos was munching on some red and pink Poffins that included the tang of sourness, even if they didn't look like they did.

"So, this is your new Pokémon?" asked Forsythia. Lucas nodded as he stored more Poffins in his Poffins Case.

"Amazing! A Shiny Shellos!"

"Thanks," Lucas said.

"Well, I suppose we're done with Poffins…" Dawn said sadly. "We won't see you again…"

Forsythia smiled. "Who said you wouldn't? I travel between cities and towns occasionally. I go to watch Contests live instead of on television sometimes."

"Really?" Dawn asked.

"Are you going to watch the Contest here in a few days?" Lucas asked.

"Of course! It's in Floaroma anyways," Forsythia smiled.

In a few minutes, Forsythia was waving them out of the shop, telling them to come back whenever they needed berries. She wouldn't forget that they saved her garden from Team Galactic. Dawn and Lucas thanked her kindness and left, to start preparing for the Contest in a few days time. They couldn't wait for it to start!

Meanwhile, in Eterna City, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter were discussing what to do to the interfering brats.

"We should just destroy them," Mars hissed.

"I agree," said Jupiter.

"No!" Saturn said this with such vehement force that the other two stared.

"And why not?" Mars asked. "They interfered with us. They have to pay!"

"No! The boy is strong. If we can convince him to join us… we could achieve even greater heights."

Jupiter snorted. "Yeah, of course he'll just willingly waltz into our hands. I'll admit, he is strong though, judging from the video of their battle with Mars at Valley Windworks."

"How will we get him to join us, Saturn?" asked Mars.

"The girl!" Saturn said. "Did you not see them?" he said, disgusted at the recollection of the duo standing side by side battling. "If we happen to take her hostage… and threaten her…" At this point, Saturn trailed off, smiling cruelly. "You get the idea."

Mars and Jupiter nodded. "I still don't think it will be a good idea though," Mars said.

"Having a do-gooder join Team Galactic only because we threatened his girlfriend? Might not be enough," added Jupiter.

Saturn shrugged. "We'll improvise along the way. We must make that boy join Team Galactic! With him, we will not only create a new universe…" Saturn was now speaking in whispers. The other two leaned in to hear him. "We will enslave the world as well…"

Mars and Jupiter stared.

"Shouldn't that go the other way around?"

"Oh, shut up."


	8. Chapter 8

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon!

Chapter Eight

"Mr. Sukizo, Nurse Joy, and I proudly present the Floaroma Ribbon to you," Mr. Contesta smiled. Dawn took the proffered Ribbon and held it high in the air.

"Yes!" she said. "I got the Floaroma Ribbon!" She saw Lucas clapping hard for her and smiled. He was always so cheerful. She turned to Ponyta and Piplup, who were standing behind her.

"We've got our first Ribbon, and it's all thanks to you guys!" she said. Her Pokémon cheered as well, and Dawn couldn't have felt better. Oh, but she could have felt annoyed.

"Dawn… wake up! Come on, Dawn! It's already 9:00! I've been awake for two hours and you haven't even moved once!"

Dawn groaned. Squinting slightly, Lucas' face blurrily came into view. He looked rather exasperated. "Lucas… why'd you have to wake me up? I was having such a good dream too…"

Lucas sighed, annoyed. "You've been sleeping for, literally, twelve hours! It's time you get up!"

"Sure," grumbled Dawn.

"You should get up! The Contest is in two days and you haven't trained at all! And… unless you want me to beat you again…" said Lucas, carefully choosing his words. Dawn leapt out of bed in a disheveled heap, glaring at Lucas.

"You think that you'll beat me? Humph! Yeah right!"

"That's what you said last time," pointed out Lucas, "but you still lost."

And with those last words, Lucas left the room. Dawn grumbled a bit, but eventually got herself ready for the day, tucking her Poké Balls onto her belt. She left the room as well and went in search of Lucas. Surprisingly enough, to her, he wasn't training. She asked Nurse Joy, who said, "Lucas? He left. He said something about Valley Windworks…"

Dawn immediately left for Route 205, to catch up to Lucas. Sure enough, she saw him at Valley Windworks, but, surprisingly, he and Shellos were talking with a… white squirrel. Dawn stared at it before calling out to Lucas. The squirrel leaped up in fright and scampered off to hide behind a windmill, while Lucas called back.

"Hey Dawn! I was looking at that Pachirisu that you scared off."

Dawn scanned Pachirisu on her Pokédex as Lucas talked.

_Pachirisu, the EleSquirrel Pokémon:_

_A pair may be seen rubbing their cheek pouches together in an effort to share stored electricity._

"It's so cute!" said Dawn delightfully as she looked at it. "I want to catch it!"

"Good luck doing that," chuckled Lucas. "That Pachirisu is pretty fast."

"Alright, then. Ponyta! Come on out!"

The horse pawed the ground as she caught sight of the Pachirisu. The Pachirisu, in turn, scampered all the way up the windmill, so that it was sitting next to the rotating blades.

"Ponyta, use Ember!" Dawn commanded.

The bits of fire flew up, but were suddenly extinguished by a rush of water. Staring at Lucas, she said angrily, "What was that for?"

Lucas' Shellos had used Water Pulse to destroy the Ember. Lucas replied calmly, "If you used Ember on a windmill made of metal, what do you think would happen?"

Dawn went white, then red with embarrassment. The Pachirisu leapt off of the windmill and onto the bare road.

"Alright, we've got it now!" Dawn yelled. "Use Flame Wheel!"

As if deciding that battling would be fun, the Pachirisu charged forward at an amazing speed, and blue electricity surrounded it in a large quantity. The electricity and fire met in the middle of the road and dissipated with a blast of smoke. Pachirisu and Ponyta were both unharmed. Pachirisu quickly retaliated by using Charm, an move that greatly reduced the target's Attack stat. Putting on a cute face with wide, trembling eyes, it stared at Ponyta, who visibly relaxed and looked sympathetic for the Pachirisu. Quickly changing its attitude, Pachirisu launched itself into a Quick Attack, leaving a white trail dwindling behind it. Ponyta, unable to avoid the speedy attack, took a direct hit and was sent reeling backwards. Quickly gathering herself, Ponyta released an Ember at the Pachirisu, who retaliated by opening its mouth and shooting numerous stars from an orb of yellow energy.

"What's that attack?" asked Dawn, fascinated as the stars ripped the Ember to shreds.

"It's called Swift. The user releases stars at the target for an attack," said Lucas, explaining.

"Alright, Ponyta," said Dawn. Ponyta was looking rather angry, and she opened her mouth wide. A sphere of twisting fire gathered, and Ponyta sent a huge, spiraling fire attack at Pachirisu, who looked utterly terrified. Pachirisu glowed white as Lucas explained that the attack was Fire Spin. Taking the damage, Pachirisu released the energy from Bide, blasting Ponyta backwards. Both Pokémon were staggering now, and it was a matter of stamina.

"Ponyta, use Fire Spin and then Stomp!" Dawn said.

The rings of fire were aimed into the sky, and Ponyta charged through them, gathering fire energy. The flaming Stomp descended upon Pachirisu, who braced itself for the attack. With a resounding crash, Ponyta leapt away from a violently trembling Pachirisu.

"No way!" Dawn gasped, wondering how the Pachirisu survived.

"It probably used Endure," said Lucas knowledgably. "It'll leave a Pokémon with at least enough energy to still stand."

"Whatever!" Dawn said, throwing a Poké Ball at the greatly weakened Pachirisu. The Poké Ball tumbled straight to the ground and clicked before it even landed.

"Wow…" Dawn muttered, picking the Poké Ball up. "It must have been really weak from Ponyta's attacks. Good job on that Fire Spin, Ponyta," she congratulated, returning Ponyta to her Poké Ball.

"Way to go, Dawn," said Lucas cheerfully. "Pokémon number three!"

Dawn simply nodded and released Pachirisu to check its stats. It was female, and knew the attacks Growl, Bide, Quick Attack, Charm, Spark, Endure, and Swift. "Let's go visit Floaroma Meadow," she said, calling back Pachirisu. "Forsythia said that it was definitely worth visiting."

After spending a good two hours roaming the meadow, the two finally decided to start on their training, or, rather, Lucas did. Dragging a complaining Dawn back to the Pokémon Center was no easy ordeal either. Finally, when all of their Pokémon were healed, Lucas insisted upon a three-on-three battle, since they both had the same number of Pokémon. Dawn only reluctantly agreed.

"Okay, Pachirisu, let's go!"

"Shellos, I choose you!"

The moment Pachirisu was let out of her Poké Ball, she danced around wildly, charging in every direction, leaving Dawn impossibly confused.

"Pachirisu! Stop!" Dawn said, wildly looking around in an attempt to find her. Lucas stifled laughter at the sight. Pachirisu was squatting right behind Dawn, who was looking around in every direction but down. Finally, Dawn caught sight of Pachirisu and yanked her off the ground.

"Now you behave! We're battling Lucas, okay?"

Looking upset, Pachirisu used Swift into Dawn's face and jumped from Dawn's arms onto the battlefield, on all fours.

"Finally!" Dawn muttered, shaking the Swift off.

"Let's get started. You can have the first move," Lucas offered.

Dawn nodded and said, "Use Swift!"

"Use Hidden Power, Shellos," Lucas commanded.

The stars were impaled by the shining Hidden Power, but Pachirisu leaped into a Spark attack, blasting apart the spheres and making her blue electricity glow incandescently. Shellos used Mud Bomb to negate the Spark attack, the blobs of mud tearing away the Spark little by little. Finally, when Pachirisu was no longer protected, Shellos aimed every piece of mud at Pachirisu, who was sent flying. She crashed into the ground and collapsed, fainted.

"Pachirisu, return!" Dawn said frantically. Lucas called back Shellos as well, and sent out Grotle in his place.

Dawn sent out Ponyta, and Lucas said, "So you're trying to go with type advantage?"

"That's a main factor in battles!" Dawn said. "Alright, Ponyta, use Fire Spin!"

"Grotle, tear the fire apart with Energy Ball!"

The green sphere of energy flew straight into the blistering flames, pushing them back. Soon enough, to Dawn's amazement, Ponyta was fighting to just use Fire Spin to stop the Energy Ball from hitting. Finally, the Energy Ball and Fire Spin both disintegrated in midair, leaving Ponyta exhausted.

"Grotle, now let's use a combination of Mega Drain and Razor Leaf!"

The Mega Drain infused with the spinning leaves, resulting in the Razor Leaf shining brightly with multiple hues of green. Ponyta used Flame Wheel to barge through the luminescent leaves and scored a direct hit on Grotle.

"Grotle, use Mega Drain once again!" Lucas said. The moment Ponyta flashed out of the Flame Wheel, the green Mega Drain made contact and absorbed a small amount of health from Ponyta, restoring some of Grotle's health.

"That won't beat us," Dawn said. "Use Fire Spin and Ember!"

Ponyta issued the Fire Spin forward, but sent small bits of fire from her mane hailing down on the rotating spiral of fire. The Fire Spin suddenly flashed and grew larger and larger, and Grotle tried weakly to deflect the attack. The fire hit Grotle straight on the head, knocking him out.

"Nice one, Ponyta!" Dawn said.

"Thanks, Grotle. Beautifly, you're up!"

Lucas sent out Beautifly, while Dawn decided to keep Ponyta. Immediately starting on offense, Ponyta used Fire Spin on Beautifly, who gracefully dodged by flying to the side. Beautifly retaliated with a Gust attack, lifting Ponyta into the air. Neighing in panic, Ponyta was dropped headfirst onto the ground. Unconscious, she neighed weakly.

"Ponyta, return!" Dawn called back Ponyta and thanked her good work. "Alright, Piplup, show them what you're made of!"

Dawn were on her last Pokémon, while Lucas still had Shellos in reserve.

"Alright, Piplup, show them your Bubblebeam!"

"Beautifly, use Absorb!"

The Absorb popped the bubbles, but more soon flew through the remainders of the old bubbles, striking Beautifly. Beautifly used Absorb again, but halfway through the attack, the red beam turned green!

"Beautifly learned Mega Drain!" Lucas said happily as the attack restored Beautifly's health. Piplup staggered to his feet and used another Bubblebeam, but this time, Beautifly flapped her wings extremely quickly to produce a gust of wind.

"Not Gust again!" moaned Dawn.

"No… I don't think that's Gust," Lucas said. "That looks more like Whirlwind, since it isn't actually hurting anything."

The wind pushed all of the bubbles back to Piplup, and Beautifly finished the battle up with Mega Drain. Collapsing, Piplup fainted.

They both quickly healed their Pokémon, and Lucas decided to call Professor Rowan as Dawn trained. Dawn, as she went to the battlefield, heard a few snatches of their conversation.

"So, you caught a Shiny Shellos? And East Sea as well? Strange… very strange," said Professor Rowan.

"That's what I thought as well," Lucas replied.

That was all Dawn heard before she left the Pokémon Center. _Who should I use?_ Dawn pondered the question as she looked at her Poké Balls. _Piplup… Ponyta… or Pachirisu? I need training with Pachirisu, so why not her?_ Calling out Pachirisu, she said, "All right, use Swift!"

Two days later, Dawn and Lucas, dressed up in the same attire as the last Contest, stood nervously in the waiting room. Dawn had trained every ounce of time she could, while Lucas took some time off for his research with Professor Rowan. Dawn figured that because of this, she had the upper hand. She turned her head to the monitor screen that displayed Marian, who was introducing the judges.

"Dawn, Lucas!" The two turned as a familiar voice hailed them.

"Hey, Zoey!" Dawn greeted as the orange-haired girl drew nearer, wearing turquoise and white robes. "You look great!"

"Thanks, you do too," complimented Zoey.

"How are you?" asked Lucas. "Seen Nando anywhere? We can't seem to find him."

"I'm fine, and Nando accidentally went right past Floaroma. Didn't realize there was a Contest or something. Probably to busy plucking away on that harp of his to even realize he was _at_ Floaroma." Everyone laughed.

"Any new tricks up your sleeves?" Dawn asked. Zoey grinned.

"Maybe… you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? By the way, your Bubblebeam wall won't work this time if I battle you."

Dawn looked rather sheepish. Indeed, she had been depending on that to stop Zoey's Glameow.

When the Appeal Round started, Zoey was one of the first Coordinators to be called. She sent out her Glameow, which used Secret Power and Shock Wave to create a beautiful coat around Glameow. Finally, Marian called down Lucas.

"It's Coordinator 21, Lucas of Sandgem Town!" Lucas walked on stage, nodding politely at the cheering audience.

"I'm looking forward to this appeal," Mr. Contesta said, "after what he did last time."

"Indeed! Remarkably impressive!" said Mr. Sukizo.

"Shellos, you're on!" Lucas shouted cheerfully, throwing a Poké Ball with a Star Seal attached. Shellos was sent out in the midst of multicolored stars that flew upwards, and when the stars vanished, glittering sparkles flashed for a moment around Shellos.

"Look at this! Lucas is using a Shiny Shellos for his appeal!" Marian shouted. Most of the crowd in the Contest Hall was excited as well, due to the rarity of a Shiny Pokémon.

"Wow," Zoey said, impressed. "When did he catch the Shiny Shellos?" she asked Dawn.

"Oh, right! That reminds me. Have you heard of Team Galactic?" Dawn said.

"No…" said Zoey, confused. What did that have to do with her question?

"Alright, stay here for a while after the Contest. Lucas and I will explain. He caught the Shellos at Valley Windworks," Dawn said.

"But… that's a Shiny East Sea Shellos, not a West Sea one. Why's it here?" Zoey pondered.

"No idea, but watch!" said Dawn excitedly, pointing at the screen.

Shellos was enveloped in a wall of water, which was Water Pulse. It completely obscured him from view, but then Shellos used Hidden Power. The shining orbs sent beams of light through the water, and then the orbs themselves were launched one by one into the wall of water, until it looked as though Shellos was surrounded by a tower of glowing spheres. Finally, for an ending, Shellos used Ice Beam to freeze the water and Hidden Power. After a few seconds of viewing the glorious tower of shining ice, the entire thing exploded, sending shining sparkles flying through the air.

"Shellos learned Ice Beam?" said Dawn disbelievingly. "Why does Lucas never tell me these things?"

"An amazing appeal. The frozen Hidden Power looked absolutely wonderful," said Mr. Contesta.

"More remarkable than the last remarkable appeal from this young man!" said Mr. Sukizo.

"Indeed, that tower of ice was beautiful," said Nurse Joy.

Lucas and Shellos both bowed, or, in Shellos' case, did something that resembled a bow but wasn't really, seeing as legs are required for bowing, and… well, Shellos don't exactly have legs now, do they? They walked off the stage, and Dawn immediately congratulated Lucas on a great appeal.

"How come when your Pokémon learn moves, I never see it, but when _my_ Pokémon learn moves, you always see it?" Dawn asked, slightly annoyed.

Lucas chuckled. "I'm fortunate that my adversaries don't see my new tactics, I suppose."

"Speak English and the rest of us might get what you're saying," Dawn replied.

"Dawn, you're next," Zoey said as Marian called for Dawn.

"And next, Coordinator number 22, it's Dawn of Twinleaf Town!"

"Pachirisu, spotlight!" Dawn sent out Pachirisu, who appeared in the middle of trembling, green lightning bolts.

"Alright, use Swift attack!" Pachirisu sent hundreds of stars revolving into the air. "Follow up with Spark and Bide!" Pachirisu then turned white while throwing electricity around her body. Jumping up into the stars, the white-blue Spark attack vaporized the stars, bringing down a fine yellow, white, and blue dust from all of Pachirisu's attacks.

"And Dawn uses Bide again to create another stunning appeal!" Marian said.

"Indeed, a good appeal," said Mr. Contesta.

"Remarkable all the while," said Mr. Sukizo.

"Yes, but Bide will get repetitive if used too often," said Nurse Joy.

Dawn trooped off, looking disappointed. _I need another appeal…_

"That was great, Dawn!" Lucas said. Zoey nodded in agreement.

Dawn sighed, "Yeah, but it's too repetitive. I might not make it."

Zoey shook her head. "Don't think like that. It's not repetitive _yet_, remember that!"

"And here are our lucky eight Coordinators moving on!"

In first place was Lucas, and Zoey followed in second. Dawn was just able to make it, ending up in seventh place.

"And here are the battle pairings!" Marian shouted.

Lucas, Dawn, and Zoey were all battling other Coordinators, and all three of them flew through easily, using Grotle, Ponyta, and Misdreavus, respectively. Finally, after the last quarterfinal battle, the semifinal battles were announced. Lucas was going up against Zoey, and Dawn against another Coordinator with a Breloom.

"Get ready, Lucas, because I'm not going easy on you!" Zoey challenged.

"Don't worry about me, worry about yourself!" Lucas retaliated.

"And here's our first semifinal battle of the Floaroma Contest! It's Coordinators Zoey and Lucas facing off to go to the finals this time! Five minutes, on the clock! Let's get started!" Marian shouted.

"Glameow, once again, curtain!"

"Shellos, you're on!"

After the Seal effects faded and Shellos' sparkles faded, Zoey started off quickly.

"Glameow, use Shock Wave and Shadow Claw!"

Immediately launching into a combination attack, the blue Shock Wave from Glameow's tail blasted the Shadow Claw, electrifying it. Glameow charged towards the waiting Shellos, who countered with Mud Bomb. Using the Shock Wave-Shadow Claw, Glameow tore apart any heaps of mud in its way. _(Lucas: 90. Zoey: 100.)_

Glameow slashed at Shellos with Shadow Claw, but Shellos threw a close range Hidden Power into the Mud Bomb, which resulted in shining blobs of mud cascading at close range on Glameow, making it much harder to slash and dodge. Glameow was pushed back by the attack, and its Shadow Claw vanished as well. _(Lucas: 90. Zoey: 85.)_

"Now, Shellos! Use Water Pulse and Ice Beam!" Lucas commanded. Shellos did so, resulting in a ball of ice that he threw at Glameow.

"Glameow, use Iron Tail to hit it back," Zoey said. Glameow's tail straightened and turned white before it used its tail to slam the chunk of ice back at Shellos. Shellos used Harden to deflect the ice into the middle of the field, where it sat, rolling slightly. _(Lucas: 80. Zoey: 65.)_

"And Lucas' use of Harden, quite the unusual move in a Contest, results in big point loss for Zoey!" Marian yelled to the tumultuous applause from the crowd.

"Indeed, quite a clever use of Harden," Mr. Contesta said.

"Alright, Glameow, use Shock Wave on that ice, and then use Secret Power to knock it at Shellos!" shouted Zoey. _Let that Shellos try and use Harden to get zapped!_

"Shellos, use Water Pulse and then Ice Beam again for a defense!" Lucas yelled.

The electrified ice was given an even stronger sparkling effect from the Secret Power, but it was met by a veritable tower of ice.

"While Zoey launches a beautiful attack that Lucas' points won't like, Lucas uses a defense similar to his appeal to stop that huge chunk of ice!" Marian shouted as both Shellos' defensive wall and the ice ball shattered. However, this resulted in Shellos becoming enveloped within beautiful sparkles, further deducting Zoey's points. _(Lucas: 70. Zoey: 55.)_

"Alright, Glameow, use Shock Wave on Shellos!"

"Shellos, use Mud Bomb!"

The Ground-type and Electric-type attacks canceled each other out in the middle of the field, but both Pokémon escaped unharmed. _(Lucas: 65. Zoey: 50.)_

"Lucas is in the lead, and there are only thirty more seconds left on the clock!" Marian shouted. That certainly got both Coordinators' attentions.

"Alright, Glameow, use Shock Wave and Secret Power!"

"Shellos, use Water Pulse and Hidden Power!"

Both Pokémon weaved their attacks quickly; Glameow sent an electrifying wave of pink energy at Shellos, who retaliated with a shining ball of water. Both attacks fought to win, but somehow, Glameow's Shock Wave was transferred over to Shellos' Water Pulse, so it was three attacks on one. Finally, at the five second mark, Shellos' attack succeeded and Glameow was hurtled across the field.

A loud buzzer sounded, and Lucas and Zoey both turned to the huge screen that showed the battling Coordinators and their points (which were kept track of in a wheel-like picture). Lucas had over half of his points while Zoey had just under half of hers.

"And Lucas wins this battle after a terrific fight to the finish!" Marian shouted.

"Yes, remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo said.

"Both of them used their opponent's attack to their own full advantage very well," said Nurse Joy, clapping.

"Nice battle, Lucas," said Zoey. "Next time won't be so easy though!"

Lucas smiled. "Thanks. Dawn, you ready?"

"Of course I am!" Dawn said, feeding Ponyta a Poffin. However, when the battle started, Dawn had to put up a good fight to defeat the other Coordinator's Breloom, who was extremely quick and very strong. Finally, in the end with a few seconds left, Breloom fainted from a Fire Spin-Stomp combination.

"And here we are, in the final battle for the Floaroma Ribbon! It's Dawn versus Lucas this time around, so get ready! Five minutes, let's go!" Marian shouted.

"Pachirisu, spotlight!"

"Beautifly, you're on!"

Pachirisu was overexcited and practically leapt out of her Poké Ball in a flurry of lightning, while Beautifly gracefully sparkled her way into the air amidst a series of musical staves.

"Pachirisu, use Quick Attack!" A fast Pachirisu charged straight into Beautifly, knocking her over in midair. _(Dawn: 100. Lucas: 95.)_

"Now use Quick Attack again!" Once again, Pachirisu charged at Beautifly at a blinding speed, but halted up close and used Swift, sending Beautifly tumbling to the ground.

"Now, use Spark, Pachirisu!" Dawn cheered. _This is too easy! Well, that's what happens when you don't get as many chances to train!_

Pachirisu charged at Beautifly, gathering electricity as she went. But, in a quick turnabout, Beautifly flew up and dodged around the attack, getting behind Pachirisu.

"Now use Mega Drain!" Lucas commanded.

The attack hit Pachirisu's tail and absorbed lots of Pachirisu's health, so much that Beautifly looked perfectly healthy. _(Dawn: 80. Lucas: 85.)_

"Follow it up with Shadow Ball and Poison Sting!"

The barbs exploded inside the Shadow Ball, which absorbed the poisonous remnants. The Shadow Ball then took on a pink hue in addition to its own black-purple color.

"Pachirisu, use Charm!" Pachirisu's put on a cute face, lowering Beautifly's Attack.

"Doesn't matter!" Lucas said. Dawn gasped as the Poison-Shadow Ball hit Pachirisu with full force.

"How? I thought Charm reduced Attack?" Dawn said.

"It reduces Attack, yes, but not Special Attack. That's why it didn't do anything to the Shadow Ball," Lucas explained.

"And Charm is used in an attempt to stop Beautifly, but to no avail," added Marian. _(Dawn: 60. Lucas: 85.)_

"Alright, Pachirisu, use Quick Attack and then Sweet Kiss!" Dawn yelled.

"What?" _Pachirisu learned Sweet Kiss?_

The heart-shaped attack struck Beautifly head-on, making her confused. _(Dawn: 60. Lucas: 70.)_

"Now, Pachirisu, use Spark attack on Beautifly!"

The electric attack rammed full force into Beautifly, damaging her greatly.

"Snap out of it, Beautifly!" said Lucas, concerned for his Pokémon.

"Dawn brings back a wonderful comeback, confusing Beautifly with Sweet Kiss and then knocking Beautifly with a powerful Spark!" announced Marian. _(Dawn: 60. Lucas: 60.)_

Suddenly, Beautifly shook her head wildly and came back to focus, and she wasn't confused anymore.

"Alright, way to go, Beautifly! Use Shadow Ball and Mega Drain, then Morning Sun to recover!" Lucas said.

The green, purple, and black Shadow Ball hurtled towards Pachirisu as Beautifly glowed, recovering. Pachirisu, however, electrified the Shadow Ball with Spark and sent it hurtling back at Beautifly, who used Whirlwind to blow it up to the ceiling.

"And that attack is up for grabs!" said Marian as the triple combination soared back down from midair. _(Dawn: 50. Lucas: 50.)_

"Beautifly, use String Shot!" Lucas said. The sticky thread snapped hold of the Spark and Mega Drain-infused Shadow Ball. Now, Beautifly had complete control over where the attack went.

"Pachirisu, get on String Shot and use Spark!" Dawn commanded. But, when Pachirisu got onto the String Shot, she was stuck. Suddenly, a blue electric force erupted from Pachirisu, and it followed the String Shot all the way back to Beautifly.

"Beautifly! Quick, split the thread!"

In the end, Beautifly wasn't quick enough. The electric attack shocked Beautifly just as the end of the five minutes buzzer rang. Dawn and Lucas both looked at the score board. _(Dawn: 45. Lucas: 35.)_

"And Dawn pulls off an amazing win over Lucas' strong Beautifly!" Marian shouted as the crowd surged upright and cheered.

_I… won?_ Pachirisu jumped onto Dawn's shoulder and smiled.

"Chi-pa! Chi, chi, chi-pa !"

"Way to go, Pachirisu!" she said happily.

Backstage, Lucas said, "That sure was some Discharge attack!"

"So that's was what it was," said Dawn as though the mysteries of the universe had been solved. "I thought it might have been Thunderbolt at first, or it might just have been Spark's energy traveling through String Shot."

Lucas shook his head. "Pachirisu don't always learn Thunderbolt or Thunder. Their attack is usually Discharge, and then if they get stronger, they could possibly learn the other two. Well, congratulations!"

"Thanks a lot, Lucas! Looks like research was your downfall this time, eh?" smirked Dawn, teasing. Lucas had literally spent an entire night up studying a book entitled, _Legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh._

Lucas reddened slightly at that comment, but replied, "I'd rather be knowledgeable then not, Dawn."

"Are you calling me stupid?" asked Dawn, pouting.

"No… I never said that," replied Lucas, grinning at Dawn's expression, a mix between annoyance, happiness, and amusement.

"You're too complicated. You and your studies."

"Nice job, Dawn!" Zoey had walked over to congratulate her as well. "I won't lose next time, trust me!"

"Alright then, Zoey. I'll—no, _we'll_—be waiting!" said Dawn. About ten minutes later, after Mr. Contesta presented Dawn with the Floaroma Ribbon, a flowery ribbon with green and pink lace forming it, with a shape resembling golden oval adorned with a crown in the middle, Dawn and Lucas waved good-bye to Zoey after explaining to her all about Team Galactic. Zoey understood their problem and promised to help them in any way possible before leaving for Hearthome City, where the next Contest would take place. It was also the home of a Gym Leader.

"I'll see you guys in a few weeks, then!" yelled Zoey as she waved good-bye to Dawn and Lucas.

"You sure will!" shouted Dawn.

"Well," Lucas said, "I think that, being the gentlemen I am," Dawn snorted at this, "I'll take you out to a congratulatory dinner tonight!"

"You? A gentlemen? You wish," scoffed Dawn. "But… I wouldn't mind dinner outside of a Pokémon Center…" she admitted. Lucas smiled softly.

"Let's go."

"Is this a date?" queried Dawn as they went in search of a restaurant.

"Is it?" replied Lucas, glancing sidelong at Dawn, who was slightly embarrassed.

The two walked to a small, quaint café to eat, left after about an hour, and were sound asleep in the Pokémon Center by 9:00 p.m.

Yawning widely as she woke up the next morning, Dawn glanced over at Lucas, who was busily tidying his bag.

"Morning," said Dawn tiredly as she got out of bed.

"Morning," said Lucas, without taking his eyes off of his bag.

After a quick shower and change of clothes for Dawn, the two signed out of Floaroma's Pokémon Center, said one last good-bye to Forsythia after finding out that Pachirisu absolutely _loved_ sweet Poffins (Dawn groaning at the thought) and set out onto Route 205 for Eterna City.

After a good half an hour of biking, the two folded up their bicycles and stuffed them into their bags (how they managed to do it, not even they knew) and arrived at an entrance to the Eterna Forest.

"Wow," whispered Dawn, gazing at the veritable wall of trees. "It's so beautiful…"

"Yeah… Let's go, then."

Inside the forest, the treetops were thick enough to block out sunlight; there were only a few spots where the layered leaves failed to stop the light. Numerous Pokémon wandered through the forest, playing with each other. The two caught sight of two Pokémon sitting next to each other in a small beam of light.

"That's a Buneary and that's a Budew," said Lucas, pointing at the rabbit and the bud in turn for Dawn, who scanned them with her Pokédex.

_Buneary, the Rabbit Pokémon:_

_Its ears are always rolled up. They can be forcefully extended to shatter even a large boulder._

_Budew, the Bud Pokémon:_

_Sensitive to changing temperature, the bud is said to bloom when it feels the sun's warm touch._

"Cool! I wanna catch that Buneary," Dawn said. "It's so cute!"

Buneary, as if sensing a challenging presence, jumped up and turned to Dawn.

"Bun, bun, buneary!"

"Alright, Pachirisu, come on out!"

Buneary quickly charged forward with Quick Attack and then used a strange attack that seemed to involve throwing a temper tantrum. Buneary threw its arms, legs, and ears at Pachirisu, who was hurtled away from the strong attack.

"Pachirisu, hit 'em back with your own Quick Attack!" Dawn said. "By the way," she added, "what was that attack?"

"It's called Frustration. Its power grows as a Pokémon's happiness decreases. The lower the happiness, the higher the power. The opposite of that attack is called Return," Lucas explained as Pachirisu slammed into Buneary.

Buneary quickly retaliated with an attack that shot zigzagging beams from a ball of energy at Buneary's mouth, which Lucas said was Ice Beam. Dawn yelled that she knew that and ordered Pachirisu to use Discharge to counter the attack. The two attacks exploded after a few seconds of contact.

"Budew! Bud, bud, budew!"

Lucas heard the faint crying of the baby Pokémon and ran through the smoke blindly. Squinting to see through the smoke, he saw the faint figure of the Budew, crying. Evidently, the Budew had been struck by a stray bit of lightning from Discharge.

Picking up the crying Pokémon, he gently soothed it. "Don't worry, it's alright," he said as Buneary and Pachirisu continued to battle. "Here, have a treat," Lucas said kindly, taking out a sweet Poffin. "It's really sweet."

Budew looked at the Poffin suspiciously before nibbling an edge. Eyes lighting up, it finished the rest, looking extremely happy.

"Budew! Budew, bud, budew!"

"There, feeling better now?" Lucas asked. Budew nodded as Buneary was sent flying from a Discharge-Spark combination. A Poké Ball whacked the Buneary's head, and it was captured with a _ping_.

Budew looked about, trying to find its friend. It thought that it had vanished, but Buneary suddenly appeared right next to it.

"So, you're a girl, and you know… Pound, Defense Curl, Foresight, Endure, Frustration, Quick Attack, and Ice Beam. Cool!" Dawn said, calling back Buneary, who looked utterly confused, although not nearly as confused as Budew, who saw its friend vanish in a flash of red light. Crying, it ran to Lucas again, who picked it up.

"I think Budew's sad because its friend is missing," Lucas said sympathetically, as Budew cried in his arms.

"Why don't you capture Budew? That way, they can be together!" Dawn said brightly. Lucas smiled and said,

"That's a great idea! Budew, do you want to come with us? You'll be able to stay with Buneary, and you'll get to battle and compete in Contests!"

"Budew!" said Budew, nodding vigorously.

"Alright then," said Lucas, reaching into his backpack. "I was saving this Poké Ball for a special Pokémon," he said, pulling out a strange black Poké Ball that had a gold band in the middle and also had a gold and red ring near the top. Budew cried happily and knocked the Poké Ball open, and was captured almost immediately.

"What kind of Poké Ball was that?" asked Dawn curiously as Lucas sent Budew out.

"It's called a Luxury Ball. It makes Pokémon you capture in it friendlier to you. That way, if Budew wants," he checked Budew's gender, "she'll be able to evolve into a Roselia earlier. Hmm, so you know Absorb, Growth, Water Sport, Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Worry Seed, Sunny Day, and SolarBeam! You know all of the moves a Budew normally learns and more! Impressive," said Lucas, calling back Budew.

"She's a strong Budew, isn't she?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, to have learned SolarBeam in the wild."

"Well, let's get going. We've got a whole forest to get through, hopefully by today."

Although they had high hopes to reach the end of the forest by evening, they failed in doing so, as they were lost multiple times after accidentally straying off the worn down path through the forest. Finally giving up, they made camp at a small clearing where the moon was visible. Ponyta used Ember to start up a small fire on a pile of twigs that Lucas gathered (with Shellos there just in case the fire got out of hand), and Lucas grabbed a pot from his bag and hung it over the fire. Filling it with fresh water, he deftly sliced a few vegetables that he had brought along for his journey with a knife and tossed them into the water. Adding some salt, the bubbling soup was soon ready, and Dawn couldn't wait to eat.

"Where'd you learn to cook?" asked Dawn as she put out eight bowls for their Pokémon and filled them with Pokémon food.

"My grandpa in Sandgem taught me and my sister some stuff, just in case we needed to learn it," he replied, pouring out the soup into two bowls, leaving just enough in the pot for both of them to have seconds if they wanted to. "I've got some other condiments if you'd like," he offered as Dawn sipped the soup.

"No thanks, this is already delicious!" Dawn said happily as the hot soup seemed to warm her up. She and Lucas both then called out their Pokémon, who set off to eat as well.

"Thanks…" he said, sipping his soup as well.

"So… anyways," said Dawn, bringing up a topic that she never really thought about, "who are the Gym Leaders of Sinnoh?"

Setting his bowl of soup down on the ground carefully, Lucas explained, "Well, there are eight Gym Leaders in Sinnoh, and each one specializes in a different type. Roark, of course, of Oreburgh City specializes in Rock-type Pokémon. Then, in Eterna City, there's Gardenia, who specializes in Grass-types. After her, it's Fantina of Hearthome City, who uses Ghost-type Pokémon. Then, in Veilstone City, there's Maylene, who specializes in Fighting-type Pokémon. After her, I believe Wake, or Crasher Wake, as he likes to be called, is next. He lives in Pastoria City, and he specializes in Water-types. After her, it's Byron of Canalave City. He specializes in Steel-type Pokémon. Then, Candice lives in Snowpoint City, and she uses Ice-type Pokémon. Finally, the last gym leader would be Volkner, who lives in Sunyshore City. He uses Electric-types to battle."

"Talk about a detailed explanation," said Dawn, rolling her eyes.

"I could go into more detail if you like," offered Lucas, joking, yet seriously. "Every Gym Leader has a Pokémon that they use most often to battle; it's usually their strongest and the one they've been with for the longest. We could call it their signature Pokémon. Anyways, so—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Dawn said.

Lucas laughed. "Alright, alright. Seconds?" he asked after seeing Dawn's bowl completely dry. She nodded, and he filled her bowl up again.

Sitting in an amiable silence, besides the Pokémon call every now and then, the two finished their dinner. Lucas packed up his pot and the utensils after Shellos used Water Pulse to clean everything. Finally, after every Pokémon had been recalled for rest, Dawn and Lucas both pulled out their sleeping bags and laid them on the floor.

They both took off their shoes and hats and simply used their sleeping bags as mattresses, as the season was spring. Actually, they had summer weather because it was only a week until summer started. Staring up at the few stars visible next the moon, Lucas and Dawn eventually passed into peaceful slumbers.

It was four in the morning, still dark, when a small, floating, electrified, grinning thing flew into their camp. Smiling wildly, its eyes flashed randomly. Giggling its name, it shocked Lucas and Dawn with small tendrils of electricity. The electric shock shook both of them awake, yelling at the top of their voices.

"What's going on?" Lucas yelled. He realized that he was completely immobilized. A small floating figure loomed over him, with huge eyes and a wide grin.

"Rotom, rotom, ro-ro-ro, rotom!"

"A Rotom?" he said. "Dawn, are you okay?"

"I can't move, but otherwise, I think I'm okay," said Dawn.

The Rotom laughed and laughed as a huge mansion suddenly materialized behind it.

"What the?" Lucas gasped. "That was _not_ there before."

Hundreds of Ghost Pokémon suddenly appeared. Most were black circles surrounded by purple fog. The rest were all purple spiky Pokémon that had claws detached from their actual body.

"Are those Gastly and Haunter?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah, but this is no time to be glad for them! I think they mean business," said Lucas.

"Ghost Pokémon! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" A high-pitched squeal came from the edge of the forest. An orange and black-haired woman wearing a green poncho-like piece of clothing with orange pants and green boots hurtled into the clearing with a Pokémon that appeared to be holding two bouquets, or rather, appeared to have bouquets of flowers for its arms.

"ROSERADE! USE MAGICAL LEAF, NOW!" she screamed. Her Roserade jumped so that it was level with the Ghost Pokémon and shot numerous luminescent leaves at the Ghost Pokémon, who all quickly floated away. The Rotom giggled slightly after dodging the attack before vanishing with the mansion.

"Are you two alright?" asked the woman, alarmed.

"Yeah… we're just paralyzed," Lucas said.

"Oh… I'm not sure what to do… if it was Stun Spore, we could wash it off, but that Rotom used Thunder Wave, I'm guessing."

"Yeah," said Dawn, fighting to move.

"Well, I guess that we'd better just wait for the effects to wear off. That mansion was the Old Chateau, a haunted building with ghosts," the woman shivered, "and Ghost Pokémon. In case you haven't noticed, I prefer Grass-type Pokémon."

"Okay then," Lucas said. He was feeling some movement coming back to him. After about ten minutes, Dawn and Lucas were able to move freely.

"Well, thanks a lot for helping us," Dawn said. "What's your name?"

"Uh… I'm Gardenia!"

"Gardenia…" thought Dawn. The name seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"You're the Gym Leader of Eterna City's Gym," said Lucas.

"Oh yeah!" Dawn said, remembering what Lucas said. Lucas looked exasperated.

"You asked me about the Gym Leaders, and you don't remember a single thing I said?"

"I do! The third Gym Leader is Fanina—"

"Fan_t_ina," said Lucas.

"—Fanina, Fantina, big deal."

"So, you two Trainers?" Gardenia asked.

"Yep! We're Trainers and Coordinators," replied Dawn.

"Well, that means that you'll be challenging _my_ Gym, and I won't go down easy!" Gardenia said. "Well, it's five o' clock," she added. "I'm going back to Eterna. I was just up exploring more of Eterna Forest when I heard you guys."

"Alright then… we'll see you later!" Lucas said.

"Later," said Gardenia, waving. "Oh, don't tell anyone I screamed, please?" she added worriedly. And with those last words, she and her Roserade vanished.

"Don't tell anyone she screamed, huh?" said Dawn, bursting with held-in laughter at Gardenia's last words.

"Bet she doesn't want word to get out that she's afraid of ghosts," said Lucas sagely.

"I am NOT afraid of ghosts!" yelled a distant voice. "I am simply… _uncomfortable _with them!"

Dawn snorted with mirth. Lucas looked at her queerly and said, "Not very ladylike, eh?"

"Talking to me or Gardenia?" Dawn said, giggling. Lucas looked rather disapproving.

"Now I know what your mom meant when she said the manners she taught you never stuck."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "We might as well get going, seeing as we're not going to sleep after that."

Lucas nodded, and the pair packed everything up. After a double check of their Poké Balls, they walked out of the looming forest, making sure to not get lost on the way.

"Well, the forest air is nice, but hello sunshine!" Dawn said as they finally exited the forest.

"I liked the forest. It had a nice feel, if you don't count the fact that we were almost electrocuted," said Lucas.

"We _were_ electrocuted," pointed out Dawn rather smugly. Lucas sighed.

"Let's just get to Eterna."

They soon entered the city's boundaries and were amazed at the rustic feel.

"Well, the Town Map _does _describe it as an old city that shows fading and almost-forgotten vestiges of ancient history," said Lucas.

"I agree," said Dawn fervently.

"Well, no Contest here. Only the Gym, so we might as well make our stay here as short as possible. The next Contest is in Hearthome City, and it's a little different, according the Contest Rulebook," said Lucas.

"What's different about it?" asked Dawn curiously, but Lucas had already wandered off. A huge statue stood in the city, apparently depicting a Pokémon.

"Wow…" said Lucas, gazing at it.

"There used to be two plates on that pedestal, but they were mysteriously torn off a few weeks ago," said a voice. "In fact, rumor has it there was a third plate." Turning around, Dawn and Lucas saw a blonde woman walking towards them. Wearing a black coat adorned with black fur, black pants, and a simple gray necklace shaped like a teardrop, she was walking with a Dragon-type Pokémon the same height as the woman herself.

"What's that Pokémon?" Dawn wondered aloud as she grabbed her Pokédex.

_Garchomp, the Mach Pokémon:_

_It is said that when one runs at high speed, its wings create blades of wind that can fell nearby trees._

"Wow!" Lucas exclaimed upon seeing the Pokémon. The woman smiled.

"The name's Cynthia. Who are you two?"

"I'm Lucas, and this is Dawn," Lucas replied.

"Pokémon Trainers?" Cynthia asked. Dawn and Lucas both nodded, and Dawn added,

"Coordinators too."

"Very interesting! Well, anyways, the two plates here used to describe the statue. I study Pokémon mythology, you know."

"That's an interesting subject," said Lucas. "The other day, I was reading a book on legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh. It talked about all of the myths regarding them as well."

"Yes… the Sinnoh region's legendary Pokémon are quite strange. One of them is rumored to have created the universe and everything in it, you know," said Cynthia.

"Really?" asked Dawn with wonder. Cynthia smiled.

"Yes, really. Well, I suppose that I will see you two again someday."

"Uh, you're leaving?" asked Dawn, surprised.

"Yes. I'm sorry that I couldn't stay longer, but I must get on with my research in this city. I'll see you two again someday, I guarantee you."

They waved good-bye to the woman and her Garchomp, still confused about the random encounter.

"Well, we'd better get going. We'll need a room in the Pokémon Center," said Lucas.

As they walked to the Pokémon Center, they noticed a huge building that didn't fit with the city at all.

"What happened to historic?" asked Dawn in disbelief as they stared at the looming skyscraper.

"Who knows? It's probably a business building," said Lucas as they entered the Pokémon Center.

After getting their Pokémon healed and a room for the night, they felt curious, so went to read the sign outside of the building.

"What?"

"No way!"

The sign said, "Team Galactic Eterna Building. We Want Your Pokémon!"

"Impossible! Team Galactic? In Eterna City? It's like they're trying to take over the world or something!" Lucas said.

"Seriously!" added Dawn.

Meanwhile, in the building, on the fourth floor, a certain purple-haired woman stared at the video that was being filmed by the camera outside.

"Those two again? Why are they in Eterna?" Jupiter said angrily. Realization dawned on her face as she muttered, "They need Eterna's Badge, most likely. But they might interfere with us again. Well, the perfect time to execute Saturn's," she said his name with disgust, "plan. But not now. It would be too obvious if I kidnapped the girl in broad daylight. Later… I will draw them to me. They will be in my grasp. And I will surpass Saturn and me honored by Master Cyrus beyond anyone else!"

"Umm… Commander?" a hesitant grunt asked. "Who are you talking too?"

Jupiter snapped around and practically flattened the grunt. "NO ONE! NOW GET OUT OF HERE WHILE I PLOT!"

The grunt jumped and ran off, saluting. Jupiter smirked. Saturn's plan was okay, but it definitely lacked finesse.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it," said Lucas from outside. "Unless we go barging in there and demand that they turn themselves in, which I doubt that they would do."

"I suppose. We'd better just get the Woods Badge from Gardenia and leave," said Dawn.

"The _Forest_ Badge, Dawn, not the Woods Badge," corrected Lucas, somewhat annoyed. Dawn smirked and said,

"When everyone depends on you for facts, you don't like it? Aha! I've found Lucas' weakness, I've found Lucas' weakness!"

"Do you want to battle her first, or are you going to make me again?" Lucas asked, ignoring Dawn's behavior.

"I think that I'll battle her first."

"Fine by me."

They went straight to the Gym, a large building in the east of the city. Going in, they saw the battlefield was different from Roark's; instead of a dirt field, in was covered in grass and trees and bushes blocked the edges of the field.

"Why hello there!" Gardenia appeared from behind a tree. "Welcome to the Gym! Who's going first?"

"I'll be battling you today, Gardenia," Dawn said.

"Great! Let's go! Oh, referee, explain the rules."

"This will be a three-on-three battle between challenger Dawn and Gym Leader Gardenia," the man said. "The challenger may switch out her Pokémon, but the Gym Leader may not! Begin!"

"Alright, go Turtwig!" Gardenia said, calling out the Grass-type.

"A Turtwig? Cool!" Dawn said. "Alright, Piplup, come on out!"

"You're using a Piplup? Interesting…" Gardenia said. "Most challengers automatically use a Pokémon with a type advantage."

"Well, I'm not most challengers! Are you ready or not?" Dawn said.

"Of course. You make the first move."

"Let's go! Use Bubblebeam!"

"Turtwig, destroy it with Razor Leaf!"

The Razor Leaf not only destroyed the Bubblebeam, it knocked Piplup back with force as well.

"Use Leech Seed to immobilize it!" Gardenia shouted.

Turtwig shot a small seed from the tip of the sprout on its head, which, upon contact with Piplup, burst into small vines that constantly sapped Piplup's health.

"Piplup, you've got to try and attack! Use Bubblebeam again!" Dawn shouted as she saw Piplup flash red for a moment. Piplup winced and stood up firmly. Lifting his fins, he turned blue and a whirlpool formed above him.

"Piplup learned Whirlpool, Dawn!" Lucas shouted.

Piplup charged forward and threw the Whirlpool at Turtwig who was swept up. Then, Gardenia gasping in horror, Piplup threw himself into the Whirlpool, using Peck. He was swirled around in the water, making him much, much faster. Finally, when he hit Turtwig, Turtwig collapsed.

"Turtwig is unable to battle! Piplup is the victor," the referee said.

"Good job, Turtwig. You tried your best," Gardenia said, calling it back.

"Come back, Piplup," Dawn said, calling him back. "Way to go."

"Alright, that was interesting. Now, Cherubi, let's go!" Gardenia tossed her second Poké Ball into the air, revealing a small, pink creature.

Dawn immediately scanned the cheerful creature.

_Cherubi, the Cherry Pokémon:_

_The small ball is not only full of nutrients, it is also tasty.__Starly__try to peck it off._

"Alright, Buneary, let's go!" Dawn said, sending out the rabbit-like Pokémon.

"Buneary, use Quick Attack!"

"Dodge it, Cherubi, and then use Magical Leaf!"

With lightning-fast speed, Cherubi dodged the speedy Quick Attack and slammed Buneary from behind with a shining Magical Leaf.

"Cherubi's quick!" Dawn said in amazement as Buneary was hit again and again.

"That's because her ability is Chlorophyll," said Gardenia. "In sunlight, Cherubi's Speed is boosted."

"Well, Buneary, use Ice Beam around yourself to make a wall!"

Buneary did so, protecting her for the moment from Cherubi. However, Cherubi, taking advantage of the sunlight streaming in through the glass roof of the Gym, charged up a strong Solarbeam to wipe out the ice shield and Buneary.

"Buneary is unable to battle! Cherubi is the victor," the referee called.

"Buneary, return! You were great," Dawn said, before sending out Pachirisu. "Alright, Pachirisu, use Spark!"

Surprisingly, the hyper Pachirisu had enough energy to surpass Cherubi's speed, and knocked the Pokémon to the ground with Spark.

"Now use Swift and Discharge!"

Pachirisu opened her mouth and brought forth the yellow ball of energy, and then zapped it with a blue Discharge from her tail. She then sent the electrified stars hurtling at Cherubi, knocking it out.

"Cherubi is unable to battle! Pachirisu is the winner!" the referee called.

"Great job, Cherubi," Gardenia said, recalling her Pokémon. "Alright, I'm not going to go easy on you with my last Pokémon! Roserade, let's go!"

"I knew it," Lucas said under his breath as he watched the Bouquet Pokémon materialize.

"Alright, Pachirisu, stay in there!" Dawn encouraged.

"Roserade, use Weather Ball!" Gardenia commanded. Gardenia jumped up into the bright rays magnified by the glass roof, charged up a sphere of glowing, red energy in its hands, and threw it at Pachirisu.

"Pachirisu, use Discharge!" The electricity intercepted the Weather Ball and destroyed it, but Roserade was already sending a Magical Leaf at Pachirisu, striking her head-on. Tumbling to the ground, Pachirisu stirred feebly.

"Now use Grass Knot, Roserade!"

A few tendrils of grass on the field suddenly grew longer as Roserade's eyes glowed green. They twined themselves around the exhausted Pachirisu and chained her firmly to the ground.

"Finish it with Weather Ball!"

The Fire-type Weather Ball slammed straight into Pachirisu's face, blasting her out of the Grass Knot and making her faint.

"Pachirisu is unable to battle! Roserade is the victor," the referee said.

"You've only got Piplup left," Gardenia said.

"That's right. Piplup, let's go!" Dawn said, sending out Piplup. To her relief, the Leech Seed had disappeared. "Use Whirlpool, then Bubblebeam!"

Piplup summoned the huge, rushing, spinning vortex of water and threw it at Roserade, but then shot a stream of water from his mouth instead of bubbles.

"Water Gun?" Dawn said.

"It's called Brine, Dawn," Lucas shouted. "Use it to your advantage! If your opponent's health is down, it does more damage!"

"Got it!"

The Whirlpool was destroyed by a Magical Leaf, but the Brine attack managed to push Roserade back. However, Brine didn't do very much damage.

"Roserade, use Flash and the Grass Knot!"

Roserade started to glow. Every second, it grew brighter and brighter, until Piplup couldn't see. Then, two tendrils of grass in front of Piplup twined themselves into a knot that a staggering Piplup stumbled into. Tripping over the grass, Piplup tumbled down.

"Finish it! Magical Leaf!"

"Quick Piplup! Use Bide!"

Piplup was knocked into a tree at the edge of the field by the force of the Magical Leaf. Barely moving, Piplup sat, still glowing. Roserade jumped over to use a close range Weather Ball, but was suddenly blasted backwards with huge force from Bide.

"Piplup, finish it! Whirlpool and Brine, let's go!"

The huge Whirlpool was given even more power with the Brine, the two attacks fusing to create a gigantic vortex of water that swept Roserade up and knocked Roserade down. The referee said,

"Roserade is unable to battle! Piplup is the winner, and the victory goes to Dawn, of Twinleaf Town!"

"…" Gardenia called back Roserade, thanked Roserade for a good job, and disappeared.

"Hey! What about the Forest Badge?" Dawn shouted.

"Nice win," Lucas said, walking over. "Where's Gardenia?"

"No idea… She vanished."

"I'm right here!" Lucas and Dawn whipped around at the cheerful voice. Gardenia was standing right behind them. "Here's your Forest Badge!"

Dawn accepted it, examining it. It looked like three trees stuck together. "Thanks."

"No problem! I trust that, Lucas, you'll challenge me tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"Alright, then. Get out of here!"

"That's one way to say good-bye," Lucas said as he and Dawn were ushered quickly out of the Gym.

"Yeah. Well, hang on for a second. I need to get my Pokémon healed."

"Alright."

Lucas stood aimlessly outside of the Pokémon Center, waiting for Dawn. His eyes kept wandering to the huge Team Galactic Building. Just as he started to wonder what was inside, Dawn came out and interrupted his thoughts.

"What'cha doing?"

He turned around. "Just thinking…"

"About what?"

"About Team Galactic. I'm wondering what they plan on doing with all of the energy that they're storing up."

"How do you know they're storing energy?"

"Why else would they be at Valley Windworks for the wind energy?"

Dawn was stumped on that one. "Alright, let's go check out the building!"

Lucas looked at her in disbelief. "How do you expect us to get inside?"

"We'll give them our Pokémon, and then ask to see what they're doing with them!"

"Oh, and you think they won't know that we ruined their plans at Valley Windworks?"

"Oh yeah… I forgot about that part."

"I think that we should forget about them and worry about it later. I need all the energy I can get to battle Gardenia."

"Alright then," Dawn sighed. Resigning to fate, she and Lucas turned back to the Pokémon Center to spend the rest of the day doing whatever they wanted. Team Galactic, on the other hand, had plans for the next day…


	9. Chapter 9

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Nine

"So, anyways," Dawn said. The two had woken up the next day and Lucas was practicing with his Pokémon for his Gym Battle. "Gardenia talked about her Cherubi's Ability yesterday… I was just wondering what an Ability really does."

"Well," Lucas said, letting his Pokémon take a brief respite, "every Pokémon has an Ability. Depending on the Pokémon, you'll get a different Ability. For instance," Lucas took out his Pokédex and scanned Grotle, "Grotle has the Ability called Overgrow, which increases the power of Grass-type moves when Grotle is low on health. Beautifly, on the other hand, has the Ability Swarm, which increases Bug-type move damage when she's low on health. Shellos has the Ability Storm Drain, which draws all Water-type moves to him. Budew has the Ability Poison Point, which means that contact with Budew may poison the foe. You can check Abilities with your Pokédex."

Dawn released all of her Pokémon and quickly scanned them. Piplup's Ability was Torrent, Ponyta's was Flash Fire, and Buneary and Pachirisu both had the Ability Run Away. "I get it now. So each Ability does something in battle. Are they all helpful?"

"No, I think that there are some that actually don't benefit the Pokémon," Lucas said. He returned to his training as Dawn went back inside the Pokémon Center. Going to the video phones, she called her mom. Within seconds, Johanna picked up the phone.

"Why, hello, Dawn!" Johanna smiled at her daughter.

"Hey Mom! Guess what? I just got the Forest Badge yesterday!" Dawn grabbed it from her Badge Case and proudly showed it to her mom.

"That's amazing, dear. How are your Pokémon?"

"They're all great."

"Have you caught any new Pokémon?" Johanna wanted to see the team that Dawn was building up.

"Yep. Here, I'll show them all to you! Everyone," Dawn tossed her four Poké Balls into the air, "come on out!"

Piplup and Ponyta materialized first, and then Pachirisu and Buneary.

"Interesting. You caught a Pachirisu and a Buneary as well. I assume that they're all strong?"

"Of course! Oh, and I won the Floaroma Town Contest!" Dawn said excitedly, brandishing her flowery Ribbon.

"You beat Lucas?" said Johanna, bemused.

Dawn nodded. "He didn't train as much this time. He was too busy studying."

"Ah, I see. Oh," Johanna said, as a bell sounded, "someone's at the door. Hang on a minute, alright?"

"Sure," Dawn replied as her mother got up. Leaning back slightly in her chair, Dawn yawned. Suddenly, a shriek made her snap back into position. Staring intently into the screen, she tried to see anything. Suddenly, the video was covered, so only the voice was coming through.

"If you ever want to see your precious mother again," said a vaguely familiar, and sinister, voice, "you'll go straight to the Team Galactic Eterna Building. Alone." And with those words, the phone was disconnected. Dawn stood up in shock, before running outside.

"Lucas!"

He turned around. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing her angry, worried, and frightened expression.

"Something's happened to Mom! Someone told me to go to the Team Galactic Eterna Building if I ever want to see her again!" Dawn yelled.

"…It would have to be Team Galactic again. Who else would tell you to go there? Well, I'll come with you."

"They told me to go alone…"

"Are you really going to listen to them?"

"I have to! If I ever want to see Mom again, I have too!"

Dawn's yelling caught Nurse Joy's attention. Coming outside, she attempted to tell Dawn off for being disrespectful, but Lucas intervened and explained what had happened. Nurse Joy looked astounded, then worried. She told the two that the building had only been erected in the past few months.

"I'll go find Officer Jenny and tell her all about it. Don't go to that building, though. Who knows what they'll do?" Nurse Joy ran off out of the Pokémon Center.

Dawn was silent at the suddenness of it all, the horror of everything, how Team Galactic had done so many awful things. Lucas did his best to comfort her. Dawn, however, after a few minutes, ran away from the Pokémon Center. Lucas, startled by the quick turnabout, shouted for her to stop and ran after her. By the time he had gotten inside the Pokémon Center, she had disappeared. He could only assume that she went to Team Galactic's building, so he ran outside. Sure enough, a small figure wearing a white hat and red coat stopped in front of the skyscraper. A man—no, a grunt, Lucas reminded himself—walked outside and roughly shoved her into the building. Turning around, Lucas stomped the ground in anger. Why did she have to go?

"What's going on?" Lucas turned around to see Cynthia with her Garchomp. "I just saw Dawn. She was crying. She ran over to that building over there and was shoved into it by a weird person…"

Sighing, Lucas explained the whole ordeal to Cynthia. By the end, Cynthia was convinced that the rumors she heard about a group of people doing crimes for energy all over Sinnoh was Team Galactic.

"But why do they want Dawn?" Lucas asked desperately. Cynthia shook her head, incomprehension written all over her face.

"I have no idea. All I know is that unless we get her out of there, she'll be in just as much danger as her mom. Alright, I'll go to Twinleaf Town to check on Dawn's mom, and you stay here until Officer Jenny comes. Go with her to get into the building and do your best to get her out of there. If you can't, I should be able to handle whatever happened in Twinleaf, and I'll get back here as soon as I can."

Cynthia took off into the air with her Garchomp after the woman climbed onto Garchomp's back. Lucas turned back to face the building, before abandoning the plan and charging forward by himself. Surprisingly, he managed to enter without any difficulty. In fact, there weren't any people on the floor he was in. He supposed everyone had gone up to other floors. From what he could see on the floor plan, there were four floors. Deciding to take a nearby elevator, he shot up to the fourth floor without any trouble. Confused as to why there was no one to stop him, he stepped out, and he quickly looked in shock at the sight. Dawn was bound to a chair facing away from the elevator with rope. Quickly turning her head around at the elevator's sound, she caught sight of Lucas and looked horrified.

"Get out of here, Lucas! It's a trap! It's a—"

That was all Lucas heard before a something knocked him straight into the ground…

"Let me go!" Johanna was facing a similar situation as Dawn. The woman was being guarded by five grunts from Team Galactic, who all had a Golbat ready for battle. Neighbors were being ushered away by five other grunts, who threatened to blast their houses to dust if they stayed to look around. Cynthia predicted that there would be guards, so she made Garchomp land behind a large tree. Looking around, she saw the five grunts herding away the onlookers.

"Garchomp, use Dig!" The Dragon and Ground-type Pokémon quickly dug a tunnel underground. The residents of Twinleaf suddenly found that the strange astronaut people vanished into thin air—or, should they say, empty ground. In the place of every grunt, there was a gaping hole that stretched for at least ten feet. All of the grunts were caved in.

"Good job, Garchomp," Cynthia whispered as the Pokémon resurfaced next to her. "Now, let's go to Dawn's house."

She walked out from behind the trees, and after questioning a few of the people (who were all slightly bemused at all of the strange people), Cynthia found out which house was Dawn's. Peering carefully into the window, she saw five grunts guarding Johanna, who caught sight of Cynthia. Eyes widening, she saw Garchomp charging up a Draco Meteor. Cynthia looked at Johanna for her permission, and Johanna nodded firmly, jaws clenched. The poor grunts never knew what hit them. One moment, they had been upright with their Pokémon, guarding the woman. The next, a hailstorm of meteors erupted into the house from the front entrance, effectively knocking out the grunts and their Pokémon, as well as destroying most of the living room and kitchen of Johanna's home. Garchomp's amazing aim made sure that Johanna wasn't hit at all.

"Are you alright?" Cynthia asked as Garchomp used Dragon Claw to sever the ropes. Johanna, rubbing her wrists, nodded.

"Thank you so much, whoever you are. What's your name?"

"Cynthia, and this is my Pokémon, Garchomp."

Johanna's eyes widened. "Cynthia? But—but you're the—!"

Cynthia had clamped a hand over her mouth. "I don't like the publicity, so I tend to not let anyone know who I really am."

Johanna nodded and Cynthia released her hand. "Your daughter has been taken captive by Team Galactic."

Johanna's eyes widened and she shook her head sadly. "I heard one of those people talking to Dawn over the phone. I hoped that she wouldn't fall for their trick…"

"Well, will you be able to handle ten grunts?" Cynthia asked.

"Ten what?" asked Johanna, confused.

"Grunts. That's the term for the Galactic underlings. I trapped five in pit traps outside, and the rest are in here. Will you take care of them? I need to get back to Eterna in case I'm needed."

Johanna nodded, and Cynthia and Garchomp swiftly left. Sighing and gathering some rope, Johanna set to binding all of the grunts together until the police from Sandgem Town (Twinleaf didn't have an Officer Jenny) came to collect them, all the while whispering, "Please, Cynthia, Sinnoh's Pokémon Champion… help my daughter."

When Cynthia alighted back in Eterna a few hours later, she groaned. Officer Jenny was waiting for her, but Lucas was nowhere in sight.

"Cynthia, I believe that he went to Team Galactic," Officer Jenny said. Cynthia nodded.

"I believe he didn't want to waste time to wait for anyone, so he left on his own. Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, if you would?"

They both nodded.

"Chansey!"

"Stunky!"

The two called out their Pokémon, Chansey with Nurse Joy and Stunky with Officer Jenny.

"Alright, let's go," Cynthia said. Contrary to Lucas' expedition, the moment the three stepped inside of the building, they were surrounded by an army of grunts and Golbat. Unfortunately for the grunts, Draco Meteor produces hundreds of meteors, perfect against hundreds of grunts. In a matter of seconds, the way was cleared. By the time they got to the fourth floor, thirty minutes had been wasted defeating grunts on every floor. They only hoped they weren't too late…

Lucas groaned, shaking his head sleepily. At the time that Cynthia, Nurse Joy, and Officer Jenny infiltrated Team Galactic's building, he woke up. He saw a sinister-looking woman with purple hair dressed in a Team Galactic outfit standing right next to Dawn with a Skuntank.

"I see you've come around," she said, smirking. She turned to look at a screen displaying videos recorded by cameras all over the building and gaped in shock at the three people, and definitely one in particular. "Cy—Cy—Cynthia?" Looking horrified at the sight of the woman and her Garchomp, the woman turned around. "The grunts will take care of them," she whispered to herself, knowing all the while that not even a thousand grunts would be able to defeat Cynthia's Garchomp.

"Who are you? What do you want with me and Dawn?" Lucas demanded, after seeing that the terrified Dawn had been gagged. Automatically looking down at his waist, he saw that his Poké Balls had been taken. So had Dawn's, for that matter. He looked around, and saw that they had been placed on a nearby desk. If only his hands weren't tied.

"I'm Jupiter, and don't even bother trying to get your Poké Balls," the woman said, catching sight of where Lucas' eyes were. "I'm one of Team Galactic's Commanders. As for what we want of you two, we don't care about the girl," Jupiter said, jerking her head in Dawn's direction. "You're the one we're focusing on. You see, Team Galactic isn't just looking for energy. We're—"

"Shut up!" Lucas looked to the right, startled. A man with blue hair walked around the corner of the room. "Do you want them to know everything about us?"

"Go away, _Saturn_," Jupiter said venomously. The man, Saturn, smirked.

"Or what?"

"Or you'll know what it's like to be on the receiving instead of watching end of Skuntank's Iron Tail!"

Lucas remembered the strong force that knocked him out. It must have been Iron Tail. It made sense that the two, Saturn and Jupiter, would be watching, hence Jupiter's statement.

"Well then, Toxicroak will be glad to teach you a lesson with his Brick Break!"

"Stop arguing with me! Can't you see that I've caught them both? Now what do you intend to do, Saturn? This was _your_ plan."

Saturn's smirk grew wider. "I have absolutely no idea."

"Well, you'd better get thinking, because the Sinnoh League's Champion is on the third floor with the idiots Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy!" Jupiter snarled. At that statement, Saturn whirled around to face the video display in fright.

"How could she be here? We were told that she was still in Celestic Town!" Saturn exclaimed, terrified.

_Who's the Pokémon Champion?_ Lucas watched the pair talk about what to do as he wondered. Well, he thought to himself, Cynthia would be the only person that would be here, aside from Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy. Mentally berating himself, he recalled that he had once read an article, a few years ago, about a new Pokémon Champion in Sinnoh, the first ever woman Champion. Her name was Cynthia, and her strongest Pokémon was Garchomp! It all made sense now.

Seemingly having decided the best plan of action, Saturn and Jupiter shoved Dawn's chair until it, and her, were next to Lucas. Two sharp claws on the ends of Toxicroak's hands glowed purple, and it held its claws dangerously close to Dawn and Lucas' throats. Saturn, Jupiter, Dawn, Lucas, Skuntank, and Toxicroak all waited for the inevitable click of the elevator, when Cynthia, Officer Jenny, and Nurse Joy would arrive…

"Alright, Spiritomb, come out," said Cynthia, sending out the eerie Pokémon. "The moment we step out of the elevator, use Psychic on everything in the room. Then, release the boy and girl with hats from Psychic and send every other Pokémon or person into a corner. Keep them there, bound by Psychic." Spiritomb grinned. It hadn't had lots of fun in a while.

The elevator opened up just as Spiritomb's eyes glowed blue. Jupiter was just about to yell that Toxicroak would kill the kids if they dared do anything rash when she and everyone else in the room were captured by Psychic. Dawn and Lucas were immediately released, and Spiritomb used Psychic to destroy the ropes binding them to the chair.

"Are you two alright?" asked Cynthia in alarm as the two tumbled out of their chairs.

"Yeah," Lucas said.

"What happened to my mom? Do you know?" Dawn asked Cynthia, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"Your mother is fine, although your house… well, I'm sorry about that," Cynthia said, embarrassed. "I destroyed half of it."

"Oh, that's fine. Mom was talking about remodeling anyways," Dawn said, waving a hand. "Now she has a good excuse." Thanking Lucas, who had grabbed their Poké Balls, she took her four Poké Balls and put them back onto her belt, as Lucas did the same. "There!" she said, satisfied. Meanwhile, Spiritomb was enjoying its job a little too much, cramming Saturn, Jupiter, Toxicroak, and Skuntank into a corner underneath a tiny, cramped desk so that the four were sprawled ungainly on each other, but were still bound by Psychic. Cynthia reprimanded Spiritomb.

"How are we even going to get them out of there now?" she asked. Spiritomb simply pulled them out one by one and held them still as Officer Jenny put them all in handcuffs, including the Pokémon. Cynthia sighed. "I suppose like that," she said, calling back Spiritomb.

"You may jail us, but we'll escape within hours!" Jupiter screamed. "Master Cyrus will come for us, and you will be punished for your impudence!"

Officer Jenny left with the four, and Cynthia, Nurse Joy, Lucas, and Dawn all went down out of the building back to the Pokémon Center. Nurse Joy healed Lucas and Dawn's Pokémon as Lucas revealed that Cynthia was Sinnoh's Pokémon League Champion.

"And you never told us," said Dawn reproachfully. Cynthia laughed.

"I don't like publicity that much, so I try to keep it a secret as I research myths. Anyways… Dawn. Do you think you would like another Pokémon on your team?"

Dawn shrugged, and Cynthia said, "Well, I'm giving you this Pokémon egg." Reaching behind her, Cynthia pulled out a glass case with a white egg inside. There were small blue and red triangles on the egg, and Dawn gasped in amazement.

"You're really giving me a Pokémon egg?" she asked weakly. Cynthia nodded, so Dawn took the glass case and hugged it. "I'll make sure to take good care of it."

"Ask Nurse Joy about how to take care of it. I really need to go now. Maybe we'll meet again in the future. I hope so." And with that, Cynthia stood up and walked away with Garchomp.

"Well," Nurse Joy said later, "you'll need to polish the egg every day with a soft, wet cloth, and then dry it. Make sure that it's always in the case, unless you're polishing it. Alright? When it's about to hatch, it will glow. Get to a Pokémon Center when that happens if you can."

"Alright. Thanks, Nurse Joy!" Dawn said happily as Nurse Joy handed back Lucas his Poké Balls.

"Time to challenge Gardenia," Lucas sighed. Dawn nodded.

Five minutes later, the referee was announcing the rules.

"This is an official Gym Battle for the Forest Badge! Challenger Lucas of Sandgem Town versus Gym Leader Gardenia! The challenger may switch out his Pokémon, but the Gym Leader may not! The battle will be three-on-three. Begin."

"Alright, Cherubi, let's go!"

"Beautifly, come on out!"

The two released their Pokémon, and Cherubi immediately started off with a quick Magical Leaf, once again taking advantage of its Ability, Chlorophyll.

"Come on, Lucas!" Dawn shouted as Beautifly used Whirlwind to whip away the Magical Leaf.

"Beautifly, Shadow Ball!" Lucas said.

The attack soared at Cherubi, but the quick Grass-type dodged to the side and unleashed another Magical Leaf, this time scoring a hit on Beautifly.

"Now, use Solarbeam," Gardenia said confidently.

"Beautifly, dodge and use String Shot," said Lucas.

The powerful Grass-type attack struck only thin air, as Beautifly had flown up out of range. Suddenly swooping down upon Cherubi, Beautifly quickly wrapped Cherubi in String Shot.

"Use Magical Leaf to get free!" Gardenia said.

"Use Gust first!" shouted Lucas.

It was a battle of speed as the luminescent leaves sliced through the thick String Shot, but Beautifly's Gust blew the leaves back at Cherubi with the added power of Gust. The attack threw Cherubi straight into a tree and knocked it unconscious.

"Cherubi is unable to battle! Beautifly is the victor!" the referee shouted.

"Good job, Cherubi. Return. Now, Turtwig, let's go!" As Gardenia swapped her Pokémon, Lucas did as well, replacing Beautifly with Grotle.

"Perfect!" said Gardenia. As soon as the battle commenced, Turtwig used Grass Knot to trip the heavy Grotle over. Since Grass Knot dealt damage according to weight, with heavier foes receiving higher damage, Grotle was damaged accordingly. "Now use Razor Leaf followed with Grass Knot!" The attacks blasted Grotle backwards and then threw him forward again.

"Keep up the Grass Knot!" Gardenia shouted. Grotle couldn't move at all, and he soon fainted from the extensive damage from Grass Knot.

"Grotle, return! Good job," said Lucas. "Budew, help out!" he said, sending out the Bud Pokémon.

"Budew! It's one of my favorite Pokémon!" Gardenia squealed. "But that doesn't mean I'll go easy! Turtwig, use Razor Leaf!"

"Budew, intercept it with Mega Drain!"

The green Mega Drain surrounded the flying leaves and disintegrated them, and then flew on to Turtwig, who was ensnared and immobilized by the attack.

"Follow up with Solarbeam!"

For a Budew, Budew was extremely powerful. The Solarbeam knocked out Turtwig in one hit.

"Turtwig is unable to battle! Budew is the winner!"

"Alright, come back, Turtwig. Roserade, you're—!"

Budew glowed white. Slowly, Budew changed her form. Finally, when the light cleared, a Roselia was standing there.

"Cool!" Lucas said, checking Roselia on his Pokédex.

_Roselia, the Thorn Pokémon:_

_The more healthy the Roselia, the more pleasant its flowers' aroma. Its scent deeply relaxes people._

Checking her moves, he saw that she had some new attacks that would be helpful against Roserade.

"Looks like we're in a battle of evolutions again!" Gardenia said cheerfully as she sent out Roserade. "But I've got the older Pokémon this time."

"But the younger Pokémon won last time," Lucas said. "How do you know it won't happen again?"

"Roserade, use Weather Ball!"

"Roselia, dodge and use Water Sport!"

The Weather Ball was a Fire-type attack again, because of the strong sunlight. Roselia dodged the singing attack and spread water all over the field, weakening Fire-type attacks.

"Smart!" Gardenia said. "That won't stop us though. Roserade, use Grass Knot!"

"Roselia, spin and use Magical Leaf to slice through the grass!"

The grass tried again and again to knot itself, but the sharp Magical Leaf kept slicing them to bits. Finally, Roserade gave up and used Flash.

"Roselia, watch out!" Lucas shouted as the blinding light filled the field.

"Now, Roserade, use Grass Knot!"

"No matter what, don't move!" Lucas ordered.

Even though Roselia stood still, the attack ensnared her and pulled her to the ground.

"Now, Weather Ball!"

The attack slammed straight into Roselia, knocking her clear out of the Grass Knot. Roselia weakly got to her feet.

"Hang in there, Roselia!" said a concerned Lucas.

"Once again, Weather Ball!" Gardenia smirked. This was the end.

"Rain Dance, Roselia!"

In a quick turnabout, the brilliant sun was covered in dark clouds that turned Roserade's Weather Ball blue. Roserade still threw it at Roselia, who used Magical Leaf to easily destroy it.

"Alright, no more playing around, Roserade! Use Flash and Magical Leaf!"

"Quick, Protect!"

A transparent, green shield erupted into existence around Roselia and protected her from the strong attacks.

"Now, use Energy Ball!" Lucas said.

The green sphere blew through the smoke around Roselia from Roserade's two attacks exploding on Protect. Flying straight at Roserade, Roserade was blasted with the full force of Energy Ball.

"Now, Sunny Day and Solarbeam!" Lucas said.

Roselia quickly shot a white beam into the sky, removing the clouds and bringing back the brilliant sun. Charging up the Solarbeam hurriedly, Roselia fired it at close range straight at Roserade, blasting it high into the sky. By the time Roserade hit the ground, it was already unconscious.

"Roserade is unable to battle! Roselia is the victor, and the winner is Lucas!"

"Way to go!" Dawn yelled as she jumped onto the field from the seats.

"Good job, Roserade," Gardenia said, calling back her Pokémon. "Well, here you go," she said, a green and white Badge in her hand. "The Forest Badge, as proof of your victory at the Eterna Gym!"

"Thanks," Lucas said, taking the Badge and putting it into its place in his Badge Case.

"Well, you two had better get going! The next Gym Leader is Fantina of—"

"Hearthome City, we know," interrupted Dawn. Turning to Lucas, she grinned. "See? I do remember things."

Lucas laughed. "I suppose so. Who's the fourth Gym Leader then?"

"Marlene!"

"_Maylene_," Lucas corrected.

"Get out of here," Gardenia said, ushering the duo out of the Gym. "By the way, Cynthia told me everything," she added as she closed the doors to the Gym.

"Does she mean that Cynthia told her about Team Galactic?" asked Lucas.

"I suppose."

"Well, we'd better check out of the Pokémon Center and get going. It's a long journey to Hearthome, and it's only four," Lucas said. "We could get in six to seven hours of travel today."

Dawn nodded, so the two, after getting their Pokémon healed, left the Pokémon Center and set off on the long trip to Hearthome…

Lucas and Dawn stepped into the bustling city of Hearthome after a week of camping and traveling. Many people were walking here and there, talking or looking in the many shops. In fact, Dawn walked straight to a seal shop for Contests, lugging Lucas with her. They ended up buying many more seals to use on their Poké Balls, and they booked a room in the Pokémon Center. Lucas and Dawn then headed for the Gym, as the Contest was in a week. Stepping up to the door, the two saw a small sign.

"I am away. I will come back as soon as possible. Au revoir!" Dawn read. "Sounds like the Gym Leader's foreign."

"Fantina likes Contests a lot," said Lucas. "I think that she won a Grand Festival once."

"Cool," said Dawn, impressed. "Well, since she's not here, we might as well train for the Contest until she gets back. Hey," she said suddenly, remembering something Lucas said in Eterna City, "what's different about the Contest in Hearthome?"

"Oh!" Lucas said. "I forgot about that! Well, in some cities and towns, like here in Hearthome, the Contests require that Coordinators use two Pokémon for the entire Contest. It's also required in the Grand Festival, so we need to practice using two Pokémon."

"Two?" Dawn shrieked. "I need to practice!" She charged off determinedly for the Pokémon Center, Lucas walking at a leisurely pace behind her.

"Piplup, Ponyta, Pachirisu, Buneary, come on out!" Dawn threw her four Poké Balls and released all of her Pokémon. "Alright, let's see. We'll have to work together for this Contest, because every stage uses two Pokémon. So, Piplup, you come with me. Pachirisu, you too. Ponyta, Buneary, see what attack moves you can make that look great while I work with Piplup and Pachirisu."

Ponyta and Buneary set off to work together while Dawn tried combinations for appeals.

"Piplup, use Bubblebeam on Pachirisu's Swift!"

The spinning stars were enveloped within the bubbles, and they floated around everywhere. "Now, Pachirisu, use Discharge, lightly."

Pachirisu unleashed a small amount of electric energy. A small tendril of electricity snaked to every bubble and electrified it. "Now, Piplup, use Whirlpool!"

The vortex of water drew everything in the surrounding vicinity to it, which resulted in the bubbles popping and transferring their electricity to the larger body of water. The stars simply were thrown around and around in the Whirlpool. Although the electric water was impressive, the stars, Dawn decided, looked extremely unorganized. They simply flopped around at random places.

"All right, Piplup, use Whirlpool, then Bubblebeam on the Whirlpool. Pachirisu, use Spark on that!"

The second combination was alright; the electricity pulled the Whirlpool around it, yet popped the bubbles at the same time, so Pachirisu was using Spark into the sky surrounded by the Whirlpool. When Pachirisu halted the electricity, the water absorbed it and blue sparks flashed all through the air.

"That looked alright."

Dawn turned around to see Lucas looking at Ponyta and Buneary. The two had used Ice Beam and Fire Spin, which resulted in a frozen Fire Spin.

"When'd you get here?" asked Dawn.

"Just now. Hey, try a Flame Wheel-Ice Beam combination," Lucas said. Dawn watched as Ponyta and Buneary did that, which resulted in Ponyta being surrounded by ice while using Fire Spin. However, the ice melted suddenly.

"I guess that'll take a while to perfect," Dawn said. Lucas nodded, agreeing.

"Alright, I need to get started to," he said. "Grotle, Beautifly, Shellos, Roselia, let's go!"

After a good two hours training together and separately, the two decided to take a brief rest for lunch. Afterwards, they went to find a place they could make Poffins at, seeing as both of them were running low. A woman showed them into a place called the Poffin House, which was a simple place that you could make Poffins at. Spending a good hour and a half using up some of the Berries that Forsythia gave them, they felt the weight of Poffins instead of Berries in their bags afterwards.

"Well, I guess we're back to training," said Dawn, whose arms where tired from stirring so much batter.

"Yeah," said Lucas. "Have you been thinking about more combinations? I can't seem to think of an appeal."

"Me too!" But Dawn's words were cut short by a purple-haired woman wearing a purple dress.

"Contests? J'adore les Contests! Ce sont fantastique! Et vous, you are Coordinators?" said the woman, who was spinning around in circles.

"Um… yes. We're Coordinators," Dawn said.

"Very good! Oh, my, my, my! Je n'ai pas des manners! Je suis Fantina, ze Gym Leader of ze 'eart'ome Gym!"

"Oh, so you're Fantina?" said Lucas. The woman nodded eagerly.

"Yes, I am!"

"Fantina, would it be alright if we challenged your Gym?" asked Lucas. "Both of us?"

She looked surprised. "Vous are Trainers aussi?" Dawn nodded. Fantina clapped her hands together.

"Superbe! Allons-y! To ze Gym!"

"Wait!" Dawn and Lucas turned around at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Zoey!" Dawn said, running up to the girl and grabbing her hands. "How have you been?"

"Great! Fantina promised me that she would battle me," Zoey said. "After all, she is a Coordinator."

"Ah, Zoey! I 'ave been looking for ou! Allons-y, to ze Gym!" Fantina said happily.

"We've got to get back to the Pokémon Center," Lucas said.

"I guess I'll see you guys later, then," Zoey said. Dawn nodded. Fantina looked crestfallen.

"Quoi? You are leaving?"

"Would it be alright if we stopped by anytime this week?" asked Dawn hopefully. Fantina thought about it for a moment.

"I suppose…"

"Thanks so much!" Dawn said. "See ya, Zoey!"

"Bye guys!"

When they reached the field outside of the Pokémon Center, Dawn decided to use Piplup and Ponyta.

"Here we go! Now, for offense. Piplup, use Whirlpool, Ponyta, use Fire Spin!" Dawn said. Lucas watched, amazed, as the spiraling fire enveloped the swirling water. The attacks span in the same direction, which increased the power of the attack. The fire and water merged, or merged as much as possible, which resulted in a huge, beautiful attack of water and fire that literally sparked power.

"Wow!" Lucas said. "Where'd you get that idea from?"

"I watched a video of the Kanto Grand Festival. There was this one video of a girl who used a Squirtle and a Combusken. They used Bubble and Fire Spin, and the attack was incredible. I think that her name was May…"

"That's a great combination, but it will need some work. It probably could destroy itself."

Dawn nodded. "I agree. Well, if you want to do some private training by yourself, I'm leaving. I want to see all of Hearthome! It's awesome!" Dawn called back her Pokémon and left for the shops. Lucas grinned at her antics.

"Alright, everyone, come on out!"

"Welcome to ze Gym!" Fantina shouted. "Referee, explain ze rules, please."

"This will be an official three-on-three Gym Battle between Challenger Lucas and Gym Leader Fantina for the Relic Badge! The challenger may switch out his Pokémon, but the Gym Leader may not! Begin!"

"Gengar, I choose you!"

"Grotle, let's go!"

"You may 'ave ze first move," Fantina offered. Lucas accepted and ordered Grotle to use Leech Seed, but the quick Gengar simply dodged the attack. Retaliating rapidly with Shadow Punch, Gengar took Lucas and Grotle by complete surprise. Grotle reeled backwards from the attack, and Gengar leaped up close and used Hypnosis, a move that put the target to sleep. Grotle simple collapsed onto the ground, asleep.

"Wake up, Grotle!" yelled Lucas. Dawn was worried as well.

"Use Night Shade, Gengar!" said Fantina. Black beams lined with red flashed from Gengar's eyes and knocked Grotle straight into the air. Gengar then continued to keep Grotle in the air by juggling him with Shadow Punch, each punch sending Grotle into the air again.

"Grotle, wake up!" Grotle's eyes flashed open and he roared ferociously, glowing. Fantina gasped. Gengar, however, kept on suspending Grotle directly in the air above itself. Grotle slowly grew larger and larger, and Lucas saw distinct shapes on him. A tree and three mountains grew from his back, and the large Pokémon, Torterra, roared. Lucas laughed happily.

"Way to go, Torterra! You've finally reached your final level!" Lucas said as he checked Torterra on his Pokédex.

_Torterra, the Continent Pokémon:_

_Some Pokémon are born on a Torterra's back and spend their entire life there._

Gengar was finding it suddenly difficult to keep Torterra in the air with Shadow Punch, and with good reason, seeing that Torterra weighed more than three times Grotle's weight. Gengar's eyes widened as Torterra fell down from midair. With a resounding crash, Torterra, who descended using Bite, knocked out Gengar in one hit.

"Gengar is unable to battle, and Torterra is the victor!"

"Way to go, Torterra!" Lucas said, hugging him.

"Good job, Gengar. Now, Mismagius, allons-y!" said Fantina, sending out her next Pokémon. A floating Pokémon appeared. In Dawn's opinion, the Pokémon looked like a witch. Dawn grabbed her Pokédex and quickly scanned it.

_Mismagius, the Magical Pokémon:_

_Its cry sounds like incantation. It is said that the cry may rarely be imbued with happiness-giving power._

"Torterra, come back. Shellos, let's go!"

Fantina's eyes sparkled just as much as the sparkles around Shellos when she saw him appear.

"Un Shiny Shellos? Il est très beau!" She clapped her hands together and span around.

"Thanks," said Lucas. "Alright, Shellos, use Hidden Power!"

"Mismagius, use Magical Leaf!"

The two attacks cancelled each other out at the middle of the field, but Mismagius swept through and shot a Dark Pulse, which looked like a beam of purple and black rings, at Shellos, who received a direct hit.

"Shellos! Use Water Pulse and then Ice Beam!" Shellos froze the sphere of water and threw it at Mismagius, who used Psywave to knock it away. Mismagius then used Psybeam, sending a stream of multicolored energy at Shellos, who pulled up a Water Pulse around himself and froze it with Ice Beam. The Psybeam reflected off of the ice shield back at Mismagius, who was blasted with twice the force of the original attack.

"Mismagius, use Magical Leaf and Psywave!" Fantina said. The Magical Leaf was shrouded in the mystical Psywave, which gave the leaves even more beauty, color, and power. Sweeping into Shellos, the attack knocked him out.

"Shellos is unable to battle! Mismagius is the victor!"

"Thanks a lot, Shellos," Lucas said. "Torterra, you're up again!"

"So, Torterra once again? C'est bien," said Fantina.

"Torterra, use Energy Ball and Razor Leaf!" Lucas shouted. Fantina took just enough time to admire the beautiful combination attack before retaliating with Psywave and Magical Leaf again. The attacks mixed and swirled before falling to the ground, useless. Torterra used Razor Leaf again, and while Mismagius handled the attack, Torterra crunched down on Mismagius with Bite. Mismagius collapsed, but at the last moment, retaliated with a strong Psybeam, knocking out Torterra as well.

"Good job," said Lucas and Fantina, both of them calling back their Pokémon.

"They're both on their final Pokémon, eh?" Dawn whipped her head around. Zoey was making her way down next to Dawn. When Zoey took her seat, Dawn nodded.

"Drifblim, allons-y!"

"Beautifly, come on out!"

"So it's Drifblim versus Beautifly, hmm?" said Zoey as Dawn scanned Drifblim.

_Drifblim, the Blimp Pokémon:_

_At dusk, swarms of them are carried aloft on winds. When noticed, they suddenly vanish._

"Beautifly, use Mega Drain and Shadow Ball," Lucas said.

"Drifblim, use Will-O-Wisp and Psychic for ze Counter Shield!" commanded Fantina.

"Counter Shield?" said Lucas. What he saw next made him gape in wonder. Drifblim had used Will-O-Wisp and Psychic to create two blue rings of fire that protected Driblim. The rings were controlled by Psychic. He watched as the rings simply converged and deflected the Shadow Ball, and then was even more surprised when Drifblim abandoned the rings' defensive use. Instead, Drifblim launched the fiery rings at Beautifly, who was swept up and battered to the ground.

"Beautifly, use Mega Drain!" Lucas said, concerned. The green beam was blocked by the Counter Shield again, but the Mega Drain managed to bypass the shield because it split into smaller threads at the point where the Mega Drain and Counter Shield met. However, since Drifblim was part Flying-type, the attack only did minimal damage.

"You see, a boy named Ash came through zis Gym last year and showed me ze Counter Shield zat 'e invented. I named it, and used it against 'im. It is a brilliant strategy for offense and defense, as you can see. 'owever, it can be modified to any Pokémon!" Fantina exclaimed. "Now, use Ominous Wind, Drifblim!" Drifblim threw its four arms out and a purple wind whipped the air, heading straight at Beautifly.

Thinking quickly about what Fantina said, Lucas said, "Spin and use Silver Wind and Morning Sun, Beautifly!"

Fantina was surprised at Lucas' quick thinking. He had cleverly devised his own Counter Shield, using the flying silver crescents from Silver Wind to create a shield with the wind from the attack as well. The crescents slid in and out, slicing anything that drew near, including Drifblim's Ominous Wind. In addition to his already brilliant strategy, Beautifly was allowed to use Morning Sun as well, even while keeping control of the Counter Shield, because Morning Sun only needed Beautifly to absorb energy with her wings. Not only this, the combination could be used in a Contest during the Appeal and Battle Rounds to, as the light from Morning Sun flew out into the Silver Wind and refracted, making Beautifly look like she was in a brilliant cocoon of silver and light.

"Wow," Zoey said softly. "That's amazing. He just took the Counter Shield and made it his own." Dawn nodded fervently, amazed at Lucas' quick thinking.

"I am very impressed!" Fantina said, clapping. "You 'ave a great mind, to be able to create your own style of ze Counter Shield so quickly! Ah, what a beautiful sight! C'est beautiful!"

"Thank you," said Lucas, modestly accepting the praises. "But I would never have even known about the Counter Shield if not for you."

"And I would never 'ave known about it if not for Ash! Now, back to ze battle! I see zat Beautifly is fully recovered," Fantina said, taking note of the absence of damage on Beautifly.

"That's right! Beautifly, fly in and use Shadow Ball and close range!" Lucas said.

"Use Will-O-Wisp and Psychic for ze Counter Shield again, Drifblim!" Fantina shouted.

Beautifly charged up Shadow Ball at the same time that Drifblim made its Counter Shield. However, surprising everyone in the room (except the referee, perhaps), white streamers of air suddenly appeared behind Beautifly, and she launched the Shadow Ball while accelerating at an amazing speed. She crashed into the Shadow Ball, which shattered on impact and collected over the air streamers around Beautifly.

"Beautifly learned Aerial Ace!" Lucas shouted happily as he saw Beautifly inside the dark energy.

The Will-O-Wisp-Psychic Counter Shield met with Beautifly's Aerial Ace-Shadow Ball combination. Both Pokémon were determined to win, and sparks and smoke billowed around the two. Finally, with a resounding explosion, smoke filled the room. A loud flapping noise was heard, and everyone (except the referee, perhaps) held their breaths. The smoke cleared. It had been removed by a Gust attack. Drifblim was on the floor. Beautifly was close to it.

"Drifblim is unable to battle!" the referee shouted as Fantina gasped in horror. "Beautifly is the victor and Lucas, the challenger, is the winner!"

Lucas ran forward and grabbed Beautifly before she fell and hugger her tightly. "You're awesome!"

"Return, Drifblim." Fantina stared at Drifblim's PokéBall. "Tu est fantastique!" Turning around, she walked to Lucas. "Here you go, Lucas! Ze Relic Badge!"

She handed him a Badge that consisted of three purple circles that intersected each other. The parts that intersected another circle were grey. Lucas put it away in his Badge Case after thanking Fantina, who sent them all on their way.

"Dawn, I vill be vaiting! Au revoir!" she said, waving to them. Everyone waved back.

"Well, we'd best get back to the Pokémon Center," Zoey said. "It's dinner time!"

After passing an amiable dinner with Zoey, Lucas and Dawn left for their room, Zoey leaving for hers.

"You're really smart, you know that?" said Dawn from her bed. Lucas, who was climbing into his own bed, chuckled.

"Thanks."

"No, I'm serious!"

"I am too." Lucas turned onto his side to stare directly at Dawn as he said this. Grey eyes met blue. After a few seconds, Dawn averted his gaze. She couldn't explain it, but during those few unnerving seconds, she could feel something. A connection between the two of them. A start. But of what?

Dawn woke up early next morning to train. Quietly leaving the room, she headed straight for the battlefield. "Come on out, everyone!"

As she examined her Pokémon, she was wondering who she would use against Fantina. "So, she'll probably use Mismagius, Gengar, and Drifblim again… Piplup, I think. And Pachirisu, against Drifblim. And Buneary, with Ice Beam… Yeah. That'll work. Alright, Ponyta, return!"

She started to train when she remembered the Counter Shield, and she decided to devise her own style of Counter Shield for her Pokémon. "Alright, Piplup, spin and use Bubblebeam! Pachirisu, spin and use Discharge, and Buneary, spin and use Ice Beam!"

Pachirisu made a good Counter Shield, but Piplup and Buneary's didn't work. Deciding that none of Buneary's moves would be flexible for a Counter Shield, she went on to train more. "Pachirisu, use Discharge on Piplup, Piplup, use Whirlpool to block it, and Buneary, use Ice Beam on Pachirisu!"

Lucas wandered out of the Pokémon Center to watch her train. She was definitely improving. "So," he said, "are you going to challenge Fantina today? We've got six days until the Contest."

Dawn shook her head. "I'm going to challenge her in two days. I want to train before I battle her. She's a very strong Trainer."

Lucas abandoned watching Dawn train and left to walk around the city. He discovered Amity Square, a quaint park where you could walk with your Pokémon, and bought a few more seals. Deciding that he should get back to the Pokémon Center, he was just about to leave the shop when a familiar cape swished past him. Turning around, he saw Nando looking at music seals.

"Nando!" Lucas walked over to the man, who turned and greeted Lucas.

"I am sorry for being absent at the Floaroma Town Contest. I accidentally walked past Floaroma. How are you?"

"I'm great, but I need to talk to you."

Nando looked curious, so he followed Lucas out of the shop. Lucas told Nando everything about Team Galactic, and Nando was quite interested.

"So, try not to associate with them, okay?" said Lucas. Nando nodded.

"I will help you if you need my assistance. Well, I must get going now. I need to challenge Fantina, and then I will see you at the Contest."

"Challenge Fantina? You're a Trainer too?" asked Lucas, surprised. Nando smiled. "How come you never told us?"

"You never asked." With a swish of his cloak, Nando left, plucking at his harp.

"Wait!" yelled Lucas. Nando turned. "Are you competing in the Hearthome Contest?"

"Yes, but just for practice. I've already won a Hearthome City Contest before." With those last words, Nando disappeared into the crowd, despite Lucas' best efforts to keep sight of him. Sighing, Lucas left for the Pokémon Center.

"This will be a three-on-three battle between Dawn of Twinleaf Town and Gym Leader Fantina! This is an official battle for the Relic Badge of the Hearthome Gym! The challenger may switch out her Pokémon, but the Gym Leader may not. Begin."

"Mismagius, allons-y!"

"Piplup, come on out!"

"So, it is Mismagius versus Piplup, hmm?" said Fantina. "You may 'ave ze first move."

"Piplup, use Whirlpool and Bubblebeam!" said Dawn. Piplup conjured up the Whirlpool and then shot the Bubblebeam at it so that bubbles were swirling around on the inside and outside of the Whirlpool before throwing it at Mismagius, who used Dark Pulse with Magical Leaf to destroy it. Mismagius then fired Dark Pulse at the ceiling, and then used Psywave to pull the separate rings out of the beam and throw them at Piplup. Piplup used both Peck and Pound at the same time to deflect the numerous flying rings. Eventually, when Mismagius ran out of Dark Pulse rings, Piplup slammed into the Ghost-type with Peck, and then quickly blasted it with Bubblebeam. Mismagius, slightly injured, hit back with Magical Leaf.

"Use Bide, Piplup!" Dawn was confident that this would end the battle, but, to her surprise, when Piplup released Bide's energy, the white energy flew straight through Mismagius. "But how?" she asked.

"Ghost-types aren't affected by Normal or Fighting-type moves, Dawn," Lucas yelled. Dawn winced. She had let Piplup take severe damage for nothing.

"Finish zis, Mismagius, with Psybeam et Magical Leaf!" The strong attack knocked Piplup out by swiping him up and slicing him with strong Psychic and Grass-type power.

"Piplup, great job. Now, Buneary, let's go!" Dawn quickly changed her Pokémon and was determined to win. "Use Ice Beam!"

"Mismagius, use Psybeam!"

The two attacks collided and formed a huge chunk of multicolored ice that fell to the floor. Dawn, thinking quickly, remembered that Buneary, who only knew one non-Normal-type move, also knew Foresight, which allowed Normal and Fighting-type moves to hit Ghost-types. "Buneary, use Foresight and then Quick Attack!"

Buneary's eyes glowed red and a beam shot out from them. It flew through Mismagius, who was suddenly hit by a strong Quick Attack. "Now use—what?"

Buneary had knocked Mismagius reeling into the air and then immediately transitioned into another attack. Buneary jumped up and smashed Mismagius into the ceiling with a foot, knocking it out.

"That was Jump Kick, Dawn," Lucas said as the referee declared Buneary the victor.

"Good job, Dawn," Fantina said. "But, I am not done yet! Drifblim, allons-y!"

The Blimp Pokémon appeared, and Buneary immediately used Foresight again. Drifblim, undaunted, used Ominous Wind to lift Buneary into the air. Suddenly swooping forward, the x on Drifblim glowed, and a replica of it shot out at Buneary. Buneary suddenly fell asleep from the Hypnosis attack.

"Buneary!" Dawn cried as the sleeping Pokémon was hit with a Will-O-Wisp and Psychic combination. Buneary fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Buneary is unable to battle! Drifblim is the victor!"

Dawn switched the unconscious Buneary with Pachirisu, her last Pokémon.

"Go on!" Fantina said, spinning around a few times.

"Pachirisu, use Discharge and Spark!"

"Drifblim, use your Counter Shield!"

The huge electric attack slammed into Drifblim's familiar Counter Shield and was repelled. Drifblim followed up with Hypnosis again. Dawn cried, "No!" as Pachirisu fell asleep on the ground. Drifblim was just about to attack with its Counter Shield when Pachirisu's eyes snapped open. Fantina, Dawn, Lucas, and Drifblim where all perplexed.

"I did not think zat Pachirisu could 'ave ze Early Bird Ability," said a confused Fantina.

"She doesn't! Her Ability is Run Away!" Dawn said. "I guess she's just too hyper to sleep. Oh well! Pachirisu, use Discharge and Swift!"

Foresight's affect was still active, and although hundreds of electrified stars fell upon Drifblim, not a single one hit because of Drifblim's superb Counter Shield. Drifblim threw the two rings of blue fire at Pachirisu, effectively knocking her out.

"Pachirisu!" Dawn cried.

"Pachirisu is unable to battle! Drifblim is the victor, and the winner is the Gym Leader, Fantina!"

Dawn called back Pachirisu. Fantina walked over and thanked Dawn for a great battle before disappearing.

"I lost." Dawn stated this very matter-of-factly, far from her usual personality.

"Fantina is a powerful Trainer. Don't feel bad," Lucas said. Dawn nodded.

"This just means that I have to train more!" Dawn said brightly, reverting back to happy mode. Lucas smiled.

"I'll help you."

"I'm going to challenge Fantina again after the Contest. That way, I can get Contest training out of the way."

"Good idea."

They went back to the Pokémon Center, and Dawn called her mom.

"How are you doing? Did Team Galactic hurt you?" Johanna and Dawn both said the same thing at the same time, before erupting into laughter.

"I'm fine," they both said.

"So, think you can remodel the house now?" said Dawn, smirking. Johanna laughed.

"Oh, I don't need to. It's only half of the house that's destroyed. So, anything else happen lately?"

"Well, Cynthia, Sinnoh's Pokémon Champion, gave me a Pokémon egg. Plus, I lost to Fantina."

"Well, that's good news and bad. Did Lucas win against Fantina?"

"Yeah."

"Falling behind, eh? And he's the one who researches." Johanna smiled as Dawn rolled her eyes.

"So what?"

"You'll need four more Ribbons to compete in the Sinnoh Grand Festival and six more Badges to compete in the Lily of the Valley Conference."

"Lily of the Valley Conference?"

"It's where the Trainers who gain all eight Badges of Sinnoh compete against each other. Apparently, the winner of it gets to challenge Sinnoh's Elite Four, and maybe even Cynthia herself." Lucas had somehow wandered into the conversation.

"Hello, Lucas. It's nice to see you," said Johanna.

"You too, Johanna."

"So as long as you get eight Badges, you get to compete?" asked Dawn.

"That's right. You have to sign up, of course."

"Well, duh," said Dawn. "Alright, I'll see you later, Mom."

"Bye, Johanna," said Lucas.

"Bye Dawn, Lucas."

"Well," said Dawn, stretching her legs after sitting for a while, "what say you to dinner?"

Lucas grinned. "Sure." They decided to simply eat in the Pokémon Center that day, and they were joined by Nando and Zoey. Finally, after two hours of catching up with each other, everyone turned in for the night, awaiting the Contest.

"Welcome to Hearthome City's Contest Hall! I'm Marian, and today, we'll be hosting the Hearthome City Contest! Here are our familiar judges, Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukizo, and Hearthome City's very own resident Nurse Joy!"

Jumping out of the changing room in a new dress and hairstyle, Dawn leaped over to Lucas. "How do I look?" she asked, posing childishly. Lucas looked at her. Her hair was barrette-free and done in a ponytail, while her dress was a neat pink and white.

"Great," he said. He himself had also changed his tuxedo to dark blue robes instead.

"You look great too! Goes well with your hair. It's kind of funny that you're all blue, and then you have grey eyes."

Lucas looked at her. "I could change our eyes if you want. Then you'd have the grey eyes."

"No thanks," said Dawn, grinning. "I like my eyes."

Hysterical laughing noises made both of them turn. Dawn groaned while Lucas winced. Jessilina, in her usual orange dress, was laughing her head off on the other side of the room.

"Hey guys," said Zoey, coming up behind them in a red swallow-tail suit and pants. Nando was following her, in his usual cape and neat clothing, plucking his harp.

"Now for the Appeal Round!" Marian yelled. "As you know, we're doing double appeals and double battles, so let's let the Coordinators come!"

After about ten minutes of appeals, Zoey was called on stage. She used a West Sea Shellos and her Glameow to make a Mud Bomb-Shock Wave combination. Later, Nando used his Kricketune and Roselia for his appeal, using Silver Wind and Sweet Scent to create beautiful shining, pink dust.

"And now, it's Coordinator number 12! Give it up for Dawn, of Twinleaf Town!" Marian shouted.

"I hope Dawn practiced her appeal," said Johanna at home, sipping tea on the sofa while watching the Contest on television, while workers and Pokémon around her fixed the house. Glameow purred.

"Ponyta, Pachirisu, spotlight!"

Ponyta and Pachirisu flew out, lightning around Ponyta and fire around Pachirisu. Ponyta immediately launched herself into a Flame Wheel. Pachirisu used Spark to electrify the fire and launch Ponyta high into the air.

"Now, Fire Spin and Discharge!"

Ponyta shot a strong Fire Spin down from the air that intercepted Pachirisu's Discharge. Fire and sparks shot off in all directions, amazing the crowd.

"Now, Pachirisu, use Sweet Kiss followed with Swift, and Ponyta, use Ember!"

Stars, hearts, and bits of fire surrounded Pachirisu and Ponyta, who had landed on solid ground.

"Finish it with Discharge!"

Pachirisu used a huge Discharge attack that hit every possible target around them. With a final explosion of colors, yellow, pink, orange, and blue sparkles floated over the stage.

"And Dawn uses the elements of lightning and fire to create a beautiful appeal!" Marian shouted.

"A very impressive appeal," said Mr. Contesta.

"Yes! Remarkable!" said Mr. Sukizo.

"Beautiful," sighed Nurse Joy.

"Interesting, Dawn. I hope you keep this creativity that you've gotten lately," said Johanna.

"And next," said Marian once Dawn walked off the stage, "Coordinator number 13! Lucas of Sandgem Town!"

"Beautifly, Roselia, you're on!"

Among swirling musical staves that disintegrated into the air, Beautifly span around and around above Roselia, using Gust to create a vertical tunnel of wind.

"Roselia, use Magical Leaf and then Petal Dance!"

"When did Roselia learn Petal Dance?" asked Dawn despairingly.

The shining leaves and pink petals were thrown into the wind tunnel, until they were so thick that you couldn't see Beautifly or Roselia.

"Now, Beautifly, use Silver Wind, and then Flash!"

"Oh, so now Beautifly knows Flash?" said Dawn exasperatedly from the waiting room.

The Silver Wind sliced the leaves and petals to a fine powder that was kept in the Gust. Finally, a brilliant light leaked through the small holes in the powder. More and more light escaped until the powder exploded.

"Shadow Ball and Aerial Ace, Beautifly, and Roselia, use Sunny Day and Solarbeam!"

Amidst the sparkling powder that was floating everywhere, Beautifly charged up a large Shadow Ball and smashed it with Aerial Ace. The attack was done so that the black Shadow Ball coated Beautifly in a layer of complete darkness, beautiful darkness. It was basically armor on Beautifly. The Sunny Day reflected off of the reflective Shadow Ball armor, making Beautifly even more glamorous. Roselia's super-charged Solar Beam blasted straight upwards into Beautifly, making everyone gasp with wonder. The Shadow Ball armor was protecting Beautifly from any harm, making the Solarbeam split around and surrounded Beautifly. Beautifly moved lower in the air until Roselia was cast in a beautiful dark light as well. Finally, to end the already amazing appeal, Beautifly used Morning Sun, taking advantage of Sunny Day. The Morning Sun shined just as brightly as the Flash, if not brighter. The Shadow Ball armor splintered from the inside, and the Solarbeam dwindled as well. Finally, everything shattered, pieces of Shadow Ball and Solarbeam mixing in with the already powder-filled air. Beautifly and Roselia looked amazing, surrounded with all of the beautiful light.

"And Lucas really can put on an appeal!" Marian shouted to the tumultuous applause from an ecstatic audience.

"I can't believe that he gave Beautifly armor with Shadow Ball!" Mr. Contesta said, amazed.

"Remarkable! I have no other words! Remarkable!" said Mr. Sukizo.

"Lucas and his Pokémon are quite amazing," said Nurse Joy, who was gaping openly at the still brilliant appeal.

Johanna stared intently at Lucas from the television screen. "He's probably one of the most powerful and clever Coordinators I've ever seen, and at such a young age, too!" she said seriously to Glameow, who nodded in response, ignoring a crash from behind them as a worker dropped a hammer.

Finally, Lucas took his leave, a thunderous audience applauding him. Even in the waiting room, every Coordinator (except Jessilina) congratulated him on a brilliant appeal.

"And now, number 14! It's Jessilina!" Jessilina stormed off for her appeal, everyone else laughing at her antics.

Finally, after all sixty-two Coordinators had finished their appeals, the rules changed from other Contests again. Depending on the number of people participating, there were different amounts of people that went through the Appeal Round. Since there were sixty-two people in this Contest, thirty-two people went through. The screen flashed to show the thirty-two Coordinators who were going through. Lucas was in first place, Zoey in ninth, Nando in eleventh, Dawn in thirteenth, and Jessilina in thirty-second.

"And here are our battle matchups!" Marian shouted as the screen flashed and the Coordinators' pictures turned to show a black back and moved randomly to different points. The pictures reversed again to show the battle pairings.

Lucas was battling Jessilina, and Dawn, Zoey, and Nando were all battling other Coordinators.

"So, for battle number four, it's Jessilina versus Lucas! Five minutes, on the clock. Let's get started!" Marian shouted to the applauding audience.

"Seviper, Yanmega, let's go!" Jessilina said, spinning around and around on one foot.

"Beautifly, Roselia, you're on!" Lucas said.

"Seviper, on Yanmega's tail! Use Poison Tail, and Yanmega, use Silver Wind!" Jessilina commanded.

Seviper's tail glowed pink as Yanmega flapped its four wings to produce silver crescents that smashed into the Poison Tail and turned purple. The Silver Wind had turned into streaking, purple comets that flew at Roselia and Beautifly. _(Jessilina: 100. Lucas: 95.)_

"Beautifly, use Silver Wind right back! Roselia, help out with Mega Drain!" said Lucas.

Roselia shot the Mega Drain straight up into the air in front of Beautifly, and Beautifly blew the Silver Wind through the green curtain of energy. The silver crescents adopted the green hue and left trails of green flowing behind them as they smashed into the purple, flying comets. Every comet that met a crescent exploded with a blast of smoke, until the field was covered in smoke. _(Jessilina: 90. Lucas: 90.)_

"And both sides use Silver Wind in addition to another boosting attack to attack and defend! What a display!" said Marian.

"Seviper, use Haze to add to the smoke!" Jessilina said.

"Beautifly, use Whirlwind to blow everything away!" Lucas said.

In the end, Beautifly's Whirlwind won. It blew away all of the smoke and Seviper's Haze. Undaunted, Jessilina's Yanmega whipped a SonicBoom at Beautifly, and Seviper slashed the SonicBoom with Poison Tail, giving it poisoning power and turning it purple. _(Jessilina: 80. Lucas: 90.)_

"Beautifly, use Aerial Ace to dodge, and then hit Yanmega! Roselia, protect Beautifly with Petal Dance!"

Beautifly gracefully flew backwards in a circle, speeding up with the familiar white streamers forming around her to slide straight under the Poison Tail-SonicBoom combination. Roselia launched a huge Petal Dance that flew around Beautifly, adding a protective and offensive layer to Beautifly's attack. She flew straight into a defenseless Yanmega, knocking it out in one, clean hit. _(Jessilina: 40. Lucas: 90.)_

"And Lucas easily knocks out one of Jessilina's Pokémon without even taking a single hit!" said Marian. The crowd was applauding and screaming.

Jessilina called back Yanmega in a fury as the judges' panels showed all showed an x. "Seviper," she yelled, "use Bite and then Poison Tail on that Beautifly!"

Seviper threw itself forward, mouth gaping wide and tail glowing.

"Roselia, use Protect to help Beautifly!" Lucas commanded.

Roselia leaped up in front of Beautifly and formed a green shield around both of them, repulsing both of Seviper's attacks. _(Jessilina: 30. Lucas: 90.)_

"Now, let's go! Double Giga Drain!" Lucas yelled.

In the waiting room, Dawn whacked herself in the head. "Both of them learned Giga Drain too!"

The two huge, green beams struck Seviper with a huge force and sapped all of its energy away. Seviper's head fell to the ground after the rest of its long body, and the judges' panels all had another x.

"And Lucas pulls off a quick win, with two minutes left on the clock!" Marian shouted to the tumultuous audience. Amidst them, Lucas noted, was Fantina, who was spinning and clapping for Lucas.

This time, Jessilina was quite angry at Lucas, and he backed off before she had an excuse to yell at him anymore. After another fifteen battles, Dawn, Zoey, and Nando also went through to the second round of battling.

This time, none of the four was going against each other, and they soared through easily. Only eight people were left now. The battle pairings showed, and the four of them all winced at their opponents. Lucas was going against Dawn, while Zoey was battling Nando.

"Now, for the first battle of the quarterfinals! It's Dawn and Lucas!" Marian shouted. The two in question walked out to an applauding audience and quickly started after Marian said, "Five minutes, on the clock!"

"Pachirisu, Piplup, spotlight!"

"Roselia, Shellos, you're on!"

Stars came from Lucas' Poké Balls, while bubbles floated from Dawn's. Dawn started off immediately.

"Pachirisu, use Swift! Piplup, use Bubblebeam, and Pachirisu, use Discharge after that!"

The stars that flew from the orb of energy at Pachirisu's mouth were quickly enveloped within bubbles that gently floated towards Roselia and Shellos. Then, a small tendril of electricity snaked into each bubble, pushing it forward and electrifying it. _(Lucas: 95. Dawn: 100.)_

"Roselia, use Magical Leaf, and Shellos, use Ice Beam!"

The Magical Leaf was strong enough to destroy the electric bubbles, but the stars were handled by the Ice Beam. The attacks all vaporized into powder that flew around Roselia and Shellos. _(Lucas: 95. Dawn: 90.)_

"And Dawn's attacks are quickly turned to dust by Lucas' Pokémon," said Marian.

"Now, Roselia, use Sunny Day, and Shellos, use Hidden Power!" said Lucas.

The looming sun grew brighter and brighter from the energy that Roselia gave to it. The rays reflected brightly off of the Hidden Power, so that it looked like a beam of light was heading for Piplup and Pachirisu. Piplup quickly used Brine to blast the Hidden Power away. _(Lucas: 90. Dawn: 85.)_

"Piplup, use Brine! Pachirisu, use Discharge!" said Dawn excitedly.

Brine was aimed at Roselia, while Discharge was aimed at Shellos. Suddenly, though, the Brine swerved at Shellos instead of Roselia, who used a Water Pulse-Ice Beam defense to block both attacks. Dawn was dumbfounded. _(Lucas: 90. Dawn: 75.)_

"Was that just bad aim on Piplup's part, or something else?" said Marian. "Perhaps it was Shellos' Ability Storm Drain!"

Dawn mentally whacked herself. How could she forget about Abilities? "Quick, Pachirisu, use Spark, and Piplup, you use Whirlpool!"

Piplup drew up the Whirlpool and held it horizontally so that the point was facing Shellos and Roselia. Pachirisu leaped into the center with Spark so that Pachirisu was charging with the Whirlpool at her back. This turned against her, however, when Shellos froze the Whirlpool to the ground, trapping Pachirisu as well. _(Lucas: 85. Dawn: 60.)_

"Now, Roselia, Petal Dance!"

The pink petals blasted Pachirisu backwards next to Piplup. When Pachirisu stood up again, she woozily meandered around.

"And that beautiful Petal Dance doesn't only damage Pachirisu, it confused it!" said Marian. _(Lucas: 85. Dawn: 50.)_

"Quick, Pachirisu, snap out of it! Use Discharge!" said Dawn worriedly.

Pachirisu managed to use Discharge—at the wrong target. Piplup collapsed from the strong super-effective attack. An x showed on each of the judges' panels.

"And Pachirisu accidentally knocks out Piplup due to its confusion!" Marian exclaimed to the crowd. _(Lucas: 85. Dawn: 20.)_

"It's up to you, Pachirisu," said Dawn. Pachirisu shook her head hard and said,

"Chi-pa!"

"Great! Now, use Swift and Discharge, followed with Spark!"

Amidst the electrified stars, Pachirisu charged forward with Spark. Shellos used Mud Bomb on the Swift-Discharge, while Roselia protected him from Spark using Protect. _(Lucas: 80. Dawn: 10.)_

"And there's one minute on the clock, and Dawn's almost out of points!" Marian announced, catching Dawn and Lucas' attentions.

"Pachirisu, use Sweet Kiss!"

"Roselia, use Solarbeam, and Shellos, buy some time with Mud Bomb!"

Roselia stood behind Shellos and began to collect energy, but it was very fast from the Sunny Day. Meanwhile, Shellos blasted the hearts with blobs of mud and covered the floor in sticky, slick mud.

"Now, Ice Beam, Shellos!"

"Pachirisu, you've got to take them head on! Discharge and Spark!"

Dawn underestimated the power of the mud-covered floor. Pachirisu jumped onto it and slid all over the place, unable to focus her electric energy. Finally, she slipped onto the floor and stuck fast. The Ice Beam-Solarbeam combination got Pachirisu unstuck though. _(Lucas: 80. Dawn: 0.)_

"Would you look at that!" yelled Marian as the judges' panels each showed an x. "Not only has Lucas taken out both of Dawn' Pokémon, he's also knocked out all of her points! What a battle!"

"Lucas, that was a great battle!" Dawn said as they walked back to the waiting room.

"Thanks," he said. "You battled well."

"You were awesome!"

Lucas smiled and turned to the television to watch the rest of the quarterfinal matches. Out of Zoey and Nando's battle, Zoey came out the victor by only a few points.

"And here are our semifinal matchups!"

Everyone turned to the screen. Lucas was against Zoey. They grinned at each other.

"Rematch," said Zoey.

"And the second battle of the semifinals between Lucas and Zoey starts now! Five minutes, on the clock!"

"Glameow, Shellos, it's curtain!"

"Beautifly, Shellos, you're on!"

"Alright," said Zoey, "Shellos, use Mud Bomb! Glameow, use Shock Wave!"

"And Zoey launches her appeal in an offensive manner this time, not just for beauty!" said Marian to the roaring crowd.

"Shellos, Water Pulse!" said Lucas. The sphere of water encompassed the Mud Bomb and stopped it. The water burst, and the mud simply dropped to the floor and splattered everywhere. _(Lucas: 100. Zoey: 90.)_

"Now, let's use Water Pulse and Silver Wind!" said Lucas. The Silver Wind flew through the water and drew water onto itself, leaving a trail from the edges of each crescent. Zoey's Shellos used Blizzard to freeze the Silver Wind, leaving fragile, silver crescents exploding on impact with the ground. _(Lucas: 85. Zoey: 90.)_

"Now, Shellos, use Blizzard, and Glameow, use Shadow Claw!" said Zoey. Glameow, wielding an icy Shadow Claw, bounded towards Beautifly. Zoey's Shellos used Mud Bomb on Lucas' Shellos in the meantime.

"Beautifly, spin and use Silver Wind! Shellos, use Ice Beam!" said Lucas.

Beautifly's Counter Shield knocked the frozen Shadow Claw away with huge force, while both Shellos had their attacks destroyed. _(Lucas: 85. Zoey: 80.)_

"Shellos, use Mud Bomb, and Glameow, use Iron Tail to give Mud Bomb more power!" yelled Zoey.

Every sticky blob of mud was hit with Iron Tail, which gave a huge speed and power boost to it. Beautifly flew in front of Shellos and used her Silver Wind Counter Shield again to slice and bat away the Mud Bomb. _(Lucas: 85. Zoey: 70.)_

"Now, use Blizzard, Shellos!" yelled Zoey.

The Blizzard froze Beautifly inside a glistening cage of ice, effectively trapping her.

"Shellos, break Beautifly free with Hidden Power!" shouted Lucas. However, Glameow was faster, and she pummeled the ice cage with Iron Tail straight at Shellos. The cage broke when it hit Shellos, dealing even more damage to both Beautifly and Shellos. _(Lucas: 70. Zoey: 70.)_

"Now, Shock Wave and Blizzard, guys!" shouted Zoey. The electrified snow flew straight at Beautifly and Shellos. Beautifly had the worst of it, since both attacks super-effected her. Finally, in the end, Shellos and Beautifly both collapsed, unconscious. _(Lucas: 0. Zoey: 70.)_

The judges' panels all had an x, and Marian announced, "And look at that! In a quick turnabout, Zoey pulls off an astounding win!"

Zoey walked off the stage with Lucas, both of them congratulating each other on a great battle.

In the end, Zoey won the Contest, easily sweeping the finals. Lucas and Dawn both clapped hard as she held up the Hearthome City Contest Ribbon.

"Congrats, Zoey!" said Dawn. "Where are you two going next?" she asked, addressing Nando and Zoey.

"I am going to Veilstone City," said Nando. "I must gain that city's Badge."

"We're going to Veilstone City too!" said Lucas. Dawn nudged him.

"Yeah, after I beat Fantina, remember that!"

"Well, sorry to crash the party, but I'm going to Pastoria City. I think Veilstone has a Contest coming up soon too, though," said Zoey.

"Well, see you guys!" Lucas and Dawn waved as Nando and Zoey set off for their next destinations.

"Do you think we could manage to travel some, or should we turn in for the night?" asked Lucas.

"Turn in. I'm exhausted," said Dawn.

They slept peacefully for that night. _Veilstone City… wonder what it's like?_ Those were Dawn's last thoughts before she fell asleep. Lucas was thinking a little darker, though. He couldn't get Jupiter's words out of his head.

"_We don't care about the girl. You're the one we're focusing on."_


	10. Chapter 10

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

PLEASE READ!

In chapter eight, Lucas states that Fantina was the third Gym Leader, followed by Crasher Wake. This is WRONG! It should be, followed by Maylene of Veilstone City. Also, in chapter nine, Zoey was going to go to Veilstone while Nando, Lucas, and Dawn where going to Pastoria. _**This is a mix up.**_ Zoey is going to Pastoria and Nando, Lucas, and Dawn are going to Veilstone. In addition, in chapter nine again, Dawn and Lucas state that the fourth gym leader is Crasher Wake; this should be Maylene. Sorry for the trouble, but I was looking at a Diamond and Pearl Gym Leader chart, not Platinum, which this story is based off of. These errors have been corrected.

Chapter Ten

"Aha, excellent move!" shouted a clapping Fantina as she excitedly twirled around when Piplup used Whirlpool and Brine, followed with Peck on Drifblim. This time around, it was a two-on-two battle between Dawn and Fantina, both still on their first Pokémon. Drifblim was making full use of the Counter Shield to block all of Piplup's attacks, and then it would counterattack at the slightest opening. Piplup was having quite a hard time battling.

"Piplup, use Whirlpool, but put it underneath Drifblim!" Dawn called. Piplup summoned the Whirlpool and then threw it below Drifblim, before proceeding to jump into it. The result was that Piplup was swirled around and around by his own attack. "Now use Brine upwards at Drifblim!"

By then, Drifblim had turned itself so that it was facing downwards, the Counter Shield revolving around it. The Brine attack shot up in a spiral that was made by Piplup swirling in the Whirlpool. Drifblim used Psychic to manipulate Will-O-Wisp for the Counter Shield, creating a resolute wall that blocked the Brine.

"Now Piplup, jump and use Bubblebeam!" said Dawn. Piplup did so, shooting the bubbles at a close range. However, Drifblim continued to block every attack.

"Now, Drifblim, use 'ypnosis!"

Although Piplup was at close range against Drifblim, Drifblim was at a close enough range to counterattack easily with Hypnosis, putting Piplup to sleep.

"Follow with ze Counter Shield!" said Fantina, spinning dizzily.

Drifblim launched its Counter Shield at Piplup, who had landed in the still spinning Whirlpool. Surprisingly, the Counter Shield was blocked by the Whirlpool, and the sleeping Piplup was unharmed.

"Use Ominous Wind to blow the Whirlpool away!"

This time around, Piplup wasn't as lucky. The purple wind ripped through the Whirlpool and Piplup, battering the water and the Pokémon to the ground in a single, clean swipe.

"Come on, Piplup! Wake up!" Dawn called frantically as Piplup dozed.

"Let us finish zis, Drifblim! Use Will-O-Wisp and Ominous Wind!" said Fantina.

"Piplup, come on! You have to use Whirlpool and Brine again!" said Dawn.

The Ominous Wind streamed through the Will-O-Wisp and absorbed the blue flames, so that a flaming whirlwind was streaking towards Piplup. Piplup snapped his eyes open and shrieked at the oncoming attack, before using Brine and Whirlpool. Luckily for Dawn and Piplup, Piplup managed to create his shield in time, the Brine strengthening the Whirlpool so that Drifblim's attacks didn't tear it apart.

"Good strategy, Dawn! Zis battle is not going to go anywhere soon!" said Fantina.

"You're right about that one," muttered Dawn. "Piplup, use Bubblebeam again!"

However, instead of unleashing a Bubblebeam, Piplup took a deep breath and steadily exhaled a thick, white fog.

"Dawn," said Lucas from the side, "that's Mist!"

The thick Mist made it impossible for anyone to see what was going on. Dawn took this to her advantage, ordering Piplup to use Whirlpool and Bubblebeam. Fantina quickly retaliated by telling Drifblim to use Ominous Wind. The Ominous Wind quickly cleared the Mist, but Piplup was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, Drifblim was bashed to the ground from behind with Whirlpool and Bubblebeam.

"Let's finish it, Piplup! Use Whirlpool and Brine!" yelled Dawn. Piplup smashed the huge attack onto Drifblim, immediately knocking it out.

"Drifblim is unable to battle," said the referee. "Piplup is the victor!"

"Return, Drifblim. Fantastique! Very vell zen, Mismagius, allons-y!" said Fantina.

"Piplup, you return as well. Pachirisu, you can do it!" said Dawn.

"Battle begin!"

"Mismagius, use Psywave!"

"Pachirisu, use Discharge!"

The two blue attacks, one from midair and the other from the ground, blasted each other with full force, but Mismagius had the upper hand by firing down on Pachirisu. Soon enough, the blue rings of Psywave overcame the sparking Discharge and beat Pachirisu into the ground.

"Follow up vith Magical Leaf!" said Fantina in a singsong voice.

Mismagius swooped down upon Pachirisu and hurled the colorful leaves at her, using Pachirisu to batter an even larger hole into the ground.

"Finally, use Psybeam!"

"Pachirisu, get out of there with Quick Attack!"

Luckily for Pachirisu, her Quick Attack got her out of the hole just before the Psybeam blasted it.

"Now use Spark!" said Dawn.

Mismagius used Dark Pulse to retaliate. It turned out to be a draw; both of their attacks blew up, but Mismagius' Dark Pulse shot out multiple dark rings that were possible projectiles.

"Mismagius, use Psywave on ze Dark Pulse to launch ze rings at Pachirisu!" said Fantina.

"Pachirisu!" called Dawn anxiously.

"Pachirisu is unable to battle!" said the referee as Pachirisu slumped onto the ground, tongue sticking out of her mouth. "The victor is Mismagius!"

"Per-fect, Mismagius!" cheered Fantina.

"Way to go, Pachirisu, good job. No need to worry, Piplup, you're next!" said Dawn.

Piplup flashed out with his fins crossed and a superior look on his face as he stared up at Mismagius.

"Piplup, use Mist!"

"Mismagius, use Magical Leaf!"

To Dawn's surprise, the Magical Leaf struck Piplup even through the sight-blocking dense fog.

"But how?" she said as Piplup was flattened.

"Dawn, Magical Leaf is a move that never misses its target," said Lucas. "Unless it's blocked, it will definitely hit."

"Alright, then, Piplup, use Bubblebeam!"

"Mismagius, use Psybeam!"

The two attacks collided and released a rush of air that temporarily blew apart the fog. Fantina immediately ordered Mismagius to use Dark Pulse, while Piplup used Brine to retaliate. Once again, both attacks were equal in power. They both exploded.

"Mismagius, 'urry and use Psywave upon ze rings of Dark Pulse!" said Fantina. The rings formed from the Dark Pulse were thrown at Piplup, just like Pachirisu's battle with Mismagius.

"Piplup, use Whirlpool!" said Dawn. The rings all flew straight into the torrential waters and stuck fast, spinning around and around until Piplup had a whirlpool of dark rings floating above him.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" said Dawn. "Throw it at Mismagius and follow up with Brine!"

The combination attack soared ahead of Piplup as he shot a jet of water at it, increasing its volume and strength.

"Ah! Mismagius!" cried Fantina, eyes watery, as her Pokémon was knocked to the ground.

"Mis…Mismagius," groaned Mismagius.

"Mismagius is unable to battle! Piplup is the victor, and the winner is Dawn!" said the referee.

"Congratulations, Dawn," said Lucas.

Meanwhile, Fantina was on her knees besides Mismagius crying heavily. "Oh, Mismagius, you did your best but we were defeated! And now you 'ave fainted! Oh, ze pain!"

"Mis?"

Mismagius floated upright and rolled its eyes at Fantina's behavior. It used Psywave to draw the Relic Badge from Fantina's hand and place it into Dawn's.

"Why, thank you, Mismagius," said Dawn. "We'll be leaving now. Bye!"

"Mismagius!" said Mismagius cheerfully as it used Psywave to force Fantina to wave at the two.

"So this is Solaceon Town," said Lucas as he glanced around at the quaint houses. "It's pretty small."

"Yeah," said Dawn, hugging her egg case. "But there's something here that's pretty cool… I forget what it was."

"You mean the Solaceon Ruins?" asked Lucas excitedly. "I've heard about them too! Apparently, there are strange Pokémon inside of them."

Dawn stared at him incredulously. "Why are you so excited? They're just caves."

"They're not just _caves_, Dawn," said Lucas exasperatedly. "They house the Unown!"

"Well, of course caves house the unknown. They're pitch-black without light!"

"No, Dawn," said Lucas. "Not the _word_ unknown, I mean that they house the Pokémon, Unown!"

"Excuse me?" said Dawn. "There's a Pokémon called Unown?"

Lucas nodded. "It's very strange, and has 28 forms, most of them based on letters, and two more based on punctuation. I've read about them, but they're very mysterious. Apparently, they can make new dimensions, or something like that."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Sure they can. And I'm a Legendary Pokémon."

Lucas looked at her seriously and was about to say something when Dawn interrupted him.

"Alright, alright. Let's just check it out, then," said Dawn. "I'd like to see these Unown."

By the time Lucas and Dawn had reached the entrance to the ruins, Lucas had already explained everything that he knew about the Unown in a fast babble that Dawn could barely keep up with. Finally, Dawn forced him to stop by disappearing into the ruins.

"Hey, wait up!" said Lucas, running after her. Muttering, he pulled out a flashlight and turned it on, only to see Dawn standing right in front of him gaping at the wall. "What?" asked Lucas, turning to face the wall.

"Ho, boy…" he breathed. The Unown were on the wall. They seemed to be stuck in place, and once Lucas stared at the entire thing, he realized that they spelled a message.

"Friendship. All lives touch other lives to create something anew and alive," he whispered. Carefully, he extended a hand and touched one of the Unown.

"What are you doing?" asked Dawn incredulously. "They might attack!"

Lucas shook his head nervously. "I don't even know if they're real. They might be fake…"

Dawn looked at him accusingly. "You said that these ruins house the Unown, and now you say that they're fake?" Lucas shrugged, but still wore an expression of nervousness. Finally, both of them turned away from the wall to go deeper into the ruins.

"Wow," breathed Dawn as they roamed deeper. "This place is filled with these Unown!" On the walls, after the message, there were many Unown of all sorts of forms simply scattered everywhere.

"I told you so," said Lucas. "And –"

Dawn screamed.

"What?" asked Lucas. Dawn was staring behind him as though a ghost had appeared. "Dawn, what's wrong?"

"The… THE UNOWN!" she shrieked, pointing wildly. Lucas spun around and shined his flashlight on the space behind him, but nothing was there.

Breathing rapidly, he turned back around. "Okay, nice one, Dawn. You got me." But Dawn still looked terrified. "It was probably a trick of the light," said Lucas. "Don't worry about it."

Dawn shook her head. Lucas reached out again and felt the walls, brushing an Unown every now and then.

"You should not have done that…"

Lucas and Dawn both whipped around and stared into the darkness near the end of the tunnel that they were in. A blue-haired man stepped out of the shadows. Lucas glanced at his clothing and started. It couldn't be…

"Who are you?" asked Dawn.

"You should not have touched the Unown on the wall," said the man calmly without answering Dawn. "Now they are agitated."

Lucas slowly turned around to face the entrance again, and was greeted by several Unown, all staring inquisitively (if that was possible) at the three humans.

Suddenly, all of them threw themselves into a circle and stared to spin around in the circle wildly. Faster and faster they span, until a bright white light was coming from all of them. Small, shining spheres grew around every Unown.

"They're using Hidden Power!" said Lucas.

The shining Hidden Power was thrown down the tunnel. Dawn and Lucas threw their arms over their heads while the man simply stood still. The Hidden Power flew right around all three of them, barely causing a breeze, until it smashed into the end of the tunnel. The bright Hidden Power exploded – and then was absorbed into the walls. Quickly, the bright light spread throughout all of the walls in the ruins. Every cave, nook, and cranny was sheathed in light. And then –

"Oh, this is not good," breathed Dawn.

Every single Unown in the ruins was slowly peeling off of the walls, and then floating to join the Unown that had used Hidden Power. When all of the Unown were congregated, they formed a thick wall with their bodies. Unnerved, Dawn and Lucas stared at their wide white eyes.

"Oh, get out of the way," said the man roughly to the Unown, Dawn, and Lucas. Dawn and Lucas stepped to the walls while the man advanced on the Unown, pulling out a Poké Ball as he went.

"You won't move? Very well. Honchkrow, go."

The man tossed his Poké Ball to reveal the huge crow-like Pokémon. Lucas quickly took out his Pokédex to scan Honchkrow and the Unown.

_Honchkrow, the Big Boss Pokémon:_

_If one utters a deep cry, many Murkrow gather quickly. For this, it is called "Summoner of Night."_

_Unown, the Symbol Pokémon:_

_When alone, nothing happens. However, if there are two or more, an odd power is said to emerge._

"Honchkrow, use Night Shade!" commanded the man. His Honchkrow flew straight at the Unown barrier and blasted them with dark, red-black beams from its eyes. It quickly scattered the Unown, who fled to avoid the attack, but they soon regrouped.

"Use Faint Attack," said the man. His Honchkrow flew at the Unown again, but suddenly disappeared and re-appeared behind the Unown, beyond their barrier. Honchkrow flew towards the Unown quickly and launched into an Astonish attack.

"Cover your ears!" Lucas yelled to Dawn. Dawn gently, but quickly, set her egg case on the ground, slapped her hands over her ears, and closed her eyes as Honchkrow started to emit red waves of sound from its beak. The attack dazed the Unown, and Honchkrow took the opportunity to blast them all with Night Shade again.

"Hurry up and leave," said the man to Lucas and Dawn. "They're clear for now."

"Thank you," said Dawn, picking up her egg case carefully, before Lucas grabbed her hand and charged out of the ruins with her. The man smiled. No, the man almost smiled. But then, he reminded himself of his cause and resumed his expressionless face, before getting out of the ruins himself. He walked almost leisurely as the Unown were blasted over and over again by his Honchkrow. Finally, when he left the ruins themselves, he called the Big Boss Pokémon back.

"Good-bye. Stand aside," he said coldly. Dawn and Lucas did as they were told, but not before Lucas blurted out a question.

"Why were you in the ruins?"

The man turned around. "I was investigating the Unown and their power to make new dimensions. Or, enter other dimensions." He started to leave, but then stopped.

"As for who I am," he said, referring to Dawn's question earlier, "I will tell you that my name is Cyrus." And with that, he disappeared as soon as he drew near the edge of town.

"He was weird," commented Dawn as they walked back to the main town. "But he helped us, and that's nice enough."

Lucas scowled. "I don't think he'll be helping us in the future."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't see? It was almost blaring on his vest!"

"Lucas, what are you talking about?" asked Dawn. Lucas sighed.

"His vest. It had Team Galactic's symbol on it. You know, the weird G."

As he expected, Dawn let off a gasp so loud that it drew the attention of multiple farmers that they passed.

"I didn't even notice!"

"And he's not a grunt," said Lucas. "We saw the grunts' uniforms. He's probably a Commander, like the other three. Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter were all Commanders. They had different uniforms from the grunts too, remember? He's probably another one of them, which would be why he had such a strong Pokémon."

"You mean his Honchkrow?" asked Dawn. Lucas nodded.

"Well, I'm going to talk with Professor Rowan. Wanna come with me?"

"Sure," said Dawn. "I haven't spoken with him since I left his lab."

Once inside the Solaceon Pokémon Center, Lucas and Dawn sat down at a video phone and quickly dialed Professor Rowan. However, Lucas's father picked up.

"Hello? Professor Rowan is busy right now, sorry, he can't be bothered, but thank you for calling, may I take a message?" said the man, not even bothering to look at the screen.

It was all said in one breath, and Lucas shook his head exasperatedly before almost yelling into the machine,

"DAD! It's me!"

Lucas's father turned, surprised, and said, "Lucas! How nice! And you must be Dawn! I saw you here the other day. My, my, you two really have grown!"

"Dad… we've only been away from home for about two months…"

"Hello, sir!" said Dawn. She was gently polishing her Pokémon Egg that she received from Cynthia with a damp towel. "It's nice to meet you!"

"Yes, it's nice to meet you too. Well, I'm sorry, Lucas, but if you were looking for the Professor, he's very busy right now and he can't take any calls. Now," said Lucas's father, taking on a more serious tone and expression, "have you caught any special Pokémon?"

Lucas shifted uneasily in his seat. Dawn stared between the screen and Lucas, confused.

"Well…" said Lucas.

"Lucas, show me your Pokémon!"

The almost harsh command made Lucas sigh in resignation. He released all of his Pokémon.

Lucas's father stared at the Pokémon that Lucas had caught critically. "I see that Turtwig has evolved to Torterra already. That's good. But… for your other Pokémon." He stared with an almost disgusted look on his face at Beautifly, Roselia, and Shellos. "A Beautifly? A Roselia? A Shellos? Lucas, you must certainly be able to do better than that. I see that your Shellos is Shiny. Quite rare, but just because it is a different color doesn't make it special. Now, I thought that you had gotten your mind clear! You told me that you try your best to catch and train the rarest Pokémon in Sinnoh, and now you show me _these_ three Pokémon? A Beautifly evolves from a Wurmple, one of the most common Pokémon in Sinnoh. Roselia can almost be found everywhere in Sinnoh, and if not Roselia, then their pre-evolution, Budew. And Shellos are also extremely common. What have you got to say for yourself?" thundered Lucas's father.

Dawn was still watching in amazement. She had scooted back slightly and was now off-screen, but she was still shocked slightly at Lucas's father's outburst. She wasn't polishing her Egg anymore, and her grip on it was slackened so much that she was barely holding on to it.

"I know, Dad," muttered Lucas.

"You need to do more than just know it. You said that you would – Professor!" Lucas's dad hastily cut off his reprimanding and quickly stood up in respect for Professor Rowan.

"Goodness, are you still hounding Lucas about catching rare Pokémon? All in all, catching rare Pokémon is quite incredible, but enough is enough! Your son does not absolutely _need_ to catch every rare Pokémon in Sinnoh! In fact, I need to study more about common Pokémon, so it's a good thing that he doesn't simply catch the rarest Pokémon alive! Really, you must stop berating the child."

Lucas's father stood apart from the Professor rather shamefacedly and left after saying good-bye to Lucas and Dawn, leaving Professor Rowan to talk with the two.

"Ah, yes. I haven't talked with you two in a while. How has your traveling been?"

Dawn scooted closer to the screen so that she was included in the frame.

"Great! Look Professor, I got a Pokémon Egg from the Champion, Cynthia!" said Dawn as Lucas recalled his Pokémon.

"Yes, yes, I know about that. Cynthia stopped by the other day to tell me everything that happened. So, has anything new occurred?"

"Yes," said Lucas. "We just met another one of Team Galactic's people. His name was Cyrus, and he wasn't a grunt, though. We guessed that he was possibly a Commander."

"Wait!" said Dawn. "Remember in Eterna City? One of the weirdo Commanders said that _Master _Cyrus would come for them! Doesn't that mean that this Cyrus is the leader of Team Galactic?"

Lucas mentally berated himself. "Of course! That means that we just met the leader of Team Galactic, but he saved our lives!"

"What?" said Professor Rowan. "This is troubling… Tell me how you met him."

Lucas and Dawn explained together of how they were in the Solaceon Ruins, and then of how the Unown trapped them, and finally of how the man came out and blasted the Unown away.

Professor Rowan shook his head. "Team Galactic… what are they up too? Speaking of Team Galactic," added the Professor, "have you heard the news?"

"What news?" asked Lucas.

"Well, evidently, those three Commanders, as you called them, have escaped jail."

_"What?" _said Dawn. "When did that happen?"

"Only a few days ago. Evidently, they not only escaped jail, but they also stole something extremely important from Eterna City. The Adamant Orb was taken."

"What's the Adamant Orb?" said Dawn.

"Well, for one thing, it's an orb with special powers," said Lucas. "It has a sister orb, the Lustrous Orb. Apparently, a third orb is rumored to exist, but no one has ever found evidence of it. The Adamant Orb and Lustrous Orb must be given to Dialga and Palkia respectively in order to work. No other Pokémon can access their powers."

"That's quite right, Lucas," said Professor Rowan. "But there's another thing; I believe that Team Galactic is somehow planning on using the Orbs to contact Palkia and Dialga."

"Hang on," said Dawn. "Palkia and Dialga… who are they?"

"Palkia is a legendary Pokémon that controls space. Dialga is a legendary Pokémon that controls time. But, we can't really study them since no one has ever seen them," said Lucas. "Professor, how could Team Galactic use the Orbs to find Dialga and Palkia?"

"Well, my theory is that the orbs hold a part of Dialga and Palkia themselves, and that is why they only work for them. I believe that the power in the Orbs was originally Dialga and Palkia's, but this is just a theory. It could be that the two had some sort of contact with the Orbs, and that alone made them special. However, the Orbs are certainly connected with Dialga and Palkia. If Team Galactic could find the two of them, who knows what destruction the could cause," said Professor Rowan.

"But Professor," said Lucas, "wouldn't they need the Lustrous Orb as well?"

"That's what I'm afraid of," sighed Professor Rowan. "The Lustrous Orb is currently under the study and care of Professor Carolina, who lives in Celestic Town. Actually, Professor Carolina is Cynthia's grandmother."

"What?"

"Yes, it's startling, but I fear that Team Galactic will try to take the Lustrous Orb by force. Therefore, I want you two to go to Celestic Town. I know that you were planning on going to Veilstone City for the Contest and Gym there, but this is urgent. Please leave today. You should be able to get there by tomorrow evening."

"Yes, sir," said Lucas. "We'll leave right away."

"Bye, Professor," said Dawn as Lucas closed the video phone. "Well," she sighed, "back on the good ol' bikes."

By the evening of the next day, the duo had indeed managed to get to Celestic Town on time, barely stopping to take breaks seeing as their task was so urgent. They stopped by the Pokémon Center and checked in for a room before deciding to explore the small town for the rest of the evening.

The two soon found themselves at the entrance to the Celestic Ruins.

"Look," said Lucas, pointing at the two paintings on either side of the cave's entrance. "Dialga," he pointed at the blue Pokémon, "and Palkia," he pointed at the pink Pokémon.

Dawn entered the cave, followed closely by Lucas. Together, they stared at a painting on the wall of the cave, a painting that depicted four lights, one large one in the center and three others circling around it.

"That was thought to be a painting depicting Dialga and Palkia, with Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf circling around them."

Lucas and Dawn turned at the voice. An old woman was walking towards them. She appeared to be extremely strict, with dark blond hair.

"Who are Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf?" asked Dawn.

"Three legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh," answered Lucas. "They are known as the Lake Guardians, because they each sleep in one of Sinnoh's three lakes: Acuity, Valor, and Verity."

"Quite right, young man," said the old woman. "I can only assume that you two were the Trainers that Professor Rowan told me were coming to help defend against Team Galactic. My name is Carolina. You may have heard of me from Professor Rowan."

"Yes, we did," said Dawn. "You're Cynthia's grandmother, right?"

"Yes, I am," said Carolina proudly. "She's quite the Trainer. In fact, I believe that she is on her way as well to help. However, please come with me for the time being. The Lustrous Orb is at my house."

Professor Carolina led the two out of the ruins and to a small house, filled with only the basic furniture and sparsely decorated. The most stunning thing in it was, of course, the Lustrous Orb. It sat in a glass case, glistening in a perfectly spherical shape with multiple colors.

Carolina said, "Now, I have been studying the Orb, and I have found that Professor Rowan's theories are true somewhat. I assume that he has told you what he thinks?" Without stopping to let the duo answer, she barged on. "Well, the two Orbs are seemingly linked to Dialga and Palkia through energy, which can be traced. That is how Team Galactic may be able to access Dialga and Palkia, for they do not live in our world. They live in separate dimensions, two dimensions that are never meant to meet. If they do meet, however, or if Dialga and Palkia meet, who knows what sort of catastrophic event would happen to the earth."

Lucas was studying the glistening Orb. "May I see the Orb?" he asked. Carolina nodded and punched as series of buttons on a keyboard next to the glass compartment holding the Orb. The lid of the container slowly opened, and Carolina reached into pick the Orb up. She gave it to Lucas. He lifted the Orb up to peer into its depths, trying to decipher the swirling colors.

And then he fainted.

"Lucas! Come over here!" The young boy toddled over to the young girl a few feet away from him.

"Yeah, Dawn?" he said.

"Look!" she squealed joyfully, pointing at a variety of flowers growing near the forest. "They're so pretty!"

"I don't know," said Lucas. "I think that Lake Verity looks prettier."

The young girl known as Dawn pouted slightly. "Am I pretty?"

Lucas blushed slightly. "…Yes…"

Dawn squealed again, jumping up and down happily while her blue hair whipped everywhere. And then –

_Splash._

The barely noticeable sound created a ripple in the very middle of Lake Verity. The circular ripple spread outwards quickly, yet evenly. Finally, when the ripple disappeared against the shoreline, a shimmering light appeared in the middle of the lake. Dawn was staring at the light. Lucas was poking her gently and asking her what she was staring at.

"The pretty light!" she said. "Don't you see it? It's in the middle of the lake!"

Lucas squinted. The lake was shimmering as usual, with no shining light coming from anywhere.

And then he felt it. The air stirred slightly – no, something stirred inside of him. And Dawn was crying out in shock.

"What's wrong?" asked Lucas worriedly.

"Look!" giggled Dawn, pointing at a flying pink Pokémon. Lucas squinted again, following her pointing finger, yet saw nothing.

"It's so cute!" said Dawn, running up to this strange Pokémon that was invisible to Lucas. The Pokémon stared into Dawn's eyes with a pair of bright yellow eyes. Then, the red jewel on its forehead began to glow. And then it was gone. Another ripple spread throughout Lake Verity.

Lucas shuddered slightly. When the "Pokémon" seemingly vanished (which was what he could judge from Dawn's confused and disappointed expression), whatever was causing him to feel strange disappeared as well.

"It's gone, Lucas. What was it?"

"I don't know," said Lucas. "I didn't see it."

"I felt weird. It looked at my eyes. And then, I felt all shivery and strange. Is that normal?"

Lucas sighed. "I don't think so." Just to be safe, he felt Dawn's forehead with the back of his hand. Nope. No fever, which meant no hallucinations (most likely).

"To be honest," he said, "I felt like that too, when you said that a Pokémon appeared. Then, when it went away, I didn't feel like that anymore."

"Me too," said Dawn.

Lucas sighed. "We should go home."

Dawn nodded. "I hope that he didn't get hurt too badly."

Lucas looked at her in confusion. "What did you just say?"

"Hopefully," said Dawn, "he's just unconscious. But what made him lose consciousness, I don't know."

"Neither do I," said an old voice. "But he fainted right after he touched the Lustrous Orb."

Lucas groaned and rubbed his head. Lake Verity was vanishing, to be replaced by a dim light and the faces of Professor Carolina and Dawn.

"Are you okay? Thank goodness you're awake," said Dawn anxiously. "Here, drink some water."

Lucas gratefully accepted the glass of water and drank it in one gulp. Professor Carolina was staring at him curiously.

"Do you know why you fainted?" she asked. Lucas shook his head. He couldn't remember ever fainting. All that he could remember was the dream. So vivid… as though it was a memory. He smiled slightly, realizing that it was a memory. A very faint memory, but a memory nonetheless. He had been five years old at the time that he went to Lake Verity. He was playing with his friend when a strange pink Pokémon appeared, according to his friend, Dawn. According to Dawn…

"Did you ever go to Lake Verity when you were younger?" asked Lucas urgently. Dawn frowned.

"I… think so. I was five, I think. I went to Lake Verity… and I saw a pink Pokémon. So what?"

"Was there anything weird about the Pokémon?" asked Lucas.

"Well… besides the fact that it came from a light in the water, no."

Lucas shook his head. "I think that you saw Mesprit."

Dawn gasped. "Mesprit? What does it look like?"

"Well," said Professor Carolina, "it has a pink head with a gray body and two tails. On its forehead, there is a red gem, as well as on its two tails."

Dawn thought carefully for a moment before nodding. "Definitely. That Pokemon that I saw fit the description perfectly. But," she said, turning to Lucas with an inquisitive expression, "how did you know that I went to Lake Verity when I was younger?"

Lucas didn't respond. Instead, he looked out the window – and, to his surprise, saw the sun's rays streaming forth. "It's morning already?" he said in surprise. Professor Carolina nodded, while Dawn was still worried at Lucas's silence to her question.

"You slept here while Dawn and I slept in the chairs," she said, pointing at the two wooden chairs near the table. "We were beginning to wonder if you were in a coma when you woke up. Anyways, what happened when you looked into the Lustrous Orb?"

Lucas looked worried. "I felt a vague connection…"

Professor Carolina was puzzled. "Dawn, why don't you take the Orb," she said, pointing at the precariously rolling Orb on the table. Before it could fall, Dawn snatched it up.

And found herself in a world of pink.

She gasped, seeing hundreds of pink pearls simply floating every which way within the strange pink dimension. And then, something roared out a strange cry.

She turned and saw a huge creature looming above her. It was floating in the strange dimension. And then…she heard something.

_Help…A strange…is trying…my dimension…I…it is…harm…hope…not dangerous. Can…give…Orb?_

Dawn looked at the strange creature in amazement, and then raised the Lustrous Orb in her hands tentatively. And then, the world vanished. Blinking, she glanced around her. The pink pearls were gone, as well as the dimension. Professor Carolina was holding the Lustrous Orb, looking worried.

"Where was I?" asked Dawn.

"You were here," said Lucas, slightly nervous. "You weren't talking at all, so Professor Carolina took the Orb away from you. Are you alright?"

Dawn shook her head. "Something's wrong. I just saw Palkia! In a pink dimension with floating pearls!"

Professor Carolina pondered over her words for a moment. "It may be that you were connected to Palkia through the Lustrous Orb. But why you were connected and none of us, I don't know. I can only assume that you were –"

_CRASH!_

All three of them jumped and ran outside. A house had just been blasted by what seemed to be a Hyper Beam attack.

"Oh no," said Dawn, staring at who had just arrived. Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter were all standing at the entrance to the Celestic Ruins, each of them with their strongest Pokémon out and ready for battle.

"Dawn, Lucas, please hold them off!" yelled Professor Carolina. "I must secure the Orb!"

"I don't think so," sneered Mars. "Last time, you got lucky that you defeated me. Not this time! Purugly, use Shadow Ball!"

"Toxicroak, use Dark Pulse!" commanded Saturn.

Jupiter threw a hand forward. "Skuntank, use Flamethrower!"

The three attacks soared straight at Dawn, Lucas, and Professor Carolina's house. Thinking quickly, Lucas released Roselia and had her use Protect. Luckily, Roselia managed to ward off the attacks.

"Piplup, Pachirisu, let's go!" said Dawn, tossing the two Poké Balls.

"Torterra, Shellos, help out as well!" said Lucas as he called back Roselia and replaced her with the other two Pokémon.

"Hah," laughed Saturn. "Toxicroak, use Sludge Bomb!"

"Purugly, use Iron Tail!" said Mars.

"Skuntank, you use Iron Tail as well!" said Jupiter.

"Shellos, block that Sludge Bomb with Mud Bomb, and Torterra, use Energy Ball!" said Lucas.

"Piplup, use Whirlpool, and Pachirisu, use Discharge!" said Dawn.

Luckily, Shellos managed to ward off Sludge Bomb with Mud Bomb, but Purugly's Iron Tail whipped Torterra's Energy Ball at Piplup while Skuntank destroyed the Whirlpool-Discharge combination.

"Piplup!" cried Dawn as the Penguin Pokémon was sent flying. "Return!"

Quickly, while Dawn was rescuing Piplup, Torterra used Razor Leaf with Mega Drain, and Shellos used Hidden Power and Ice Beam. The combined attacks temporarily subdued Team Galactic, but they retaliated with even greater force.

"Poison Jab!" said Saturn.

"Use Body Slam!" said Mars.

"Finish them off with Slash," cried Jupiter.

The three physical attacks soared towards Dawn, Lucas and their Pokémon. Pachirisu managed to block Poison Jab with Discharge and Swift, while Torterra and Shellos tried their best to deal with Slash and Body Slam. Torterra used Bite on Skuntank to negate Slash, while Shellos was flattened during an attempt to stop Body Slam with Ice Beam. Unfortunately for Shellos, even though Purugly was frozen by Ice Beam, it still crashed into Shellos.

"Return, Shellos! Roselia, let's go!" said Lucas, switching his Pokémon.

"Hah, already on a new Pokémon?" said Jupiter, before ordering Skuntank to use Hyper Beam.

"Roselia, use Protect!" cried Lucas.

"Use X-Scissor on that Roselia when it's finished with Protect," said Saturn, while Mars ordered a Shadow Ball on Pachirisu.

"Pachirisu, use Spark on that Shadow Ball and send it at Toxicroak!" said Dawn.

"Torterra, help out Roselia with Mega Drain!" said Lucas.

Pachirisu electrified the Shadow Ball and hurled it at Toxicroak, while Torterra attacked the Shadow Ball with Mega Drain. The triple attack soared straight into Toxicroak, knocking him out. At the loud crash of Toxicroak smashing into a house's wall, the villagers of Celestic Town began to evacuate in a hurry.

Saturn growled and called back Toxicroak, leaving Jupiter and Mars to deal with Dawn and Lucas.

"Make a diversion," Jupiter muttered to Mars. "I'll blast apart that old lady's house."

Mars nodded. "Purugly, use Shadow Ball!"

Purugly began to launch endless Shadow Balls at Torterra, Roselia, and Pachirisu, who were only just managing to block them all. By the time Lucas realized what they were doing, it was too late.

"Hyper Beam!" screeched Jupiter. Her Skuntank let loose an orange stream of energy that tore Professor Carolina's house apart.

"Aah!"

Lucas and Dawn both turned at Professor Carolina's scream.

"Professor!" they both called in worry. Mars took the opportunity to finish off Pachirisu, Torterra, and Roselia at once with Iron Tail, Body Slam, and Shadow Ball.

"Oh no!" cried Lucas as he and Dawn recalled their Pokémon. "They're too strong! Dawn, we've got to get the Orb!"

"I'm on it," shouted Dawn as she and Lucas raced against Team Galactic to grab the shining Lustrous Orb, whose glass case had been destroyed by the Hyper Beam.

Dawn reached the Orb first. Just as she picked it up and was about to throw it to Lucas, she jolted – and found herself in the pink dimension again. It seemed that the huge pink Pokémon, Palkia, had been waiting for her.

_Can…give…me…Orb?_

Dawn wasted no time in throwing the puny Orb to the huge creature, who reached out with a claw to grab it. The Orb vanished in a flash of pink light. And then, Dawn disappeared from the pink realm once again.

"Where's the Orb?" shrieked Mars. She just saw the girl pick it up. And then it vanished.

"I don't know!" said Saturn. "Master Cyrus will punish us if we do not retrieve it!"

"Shut up and look for it!" hissed Jupiter.

The three Commanders made an undignified scurry and roughly pushed Dawn aside as they combed the area.

Unwittingly, they pushed Dawn straight into Lucas. He stumbled, caught her in his arms, and fell against the dirt floor.

"Ow!" he complained, before realizing the awkward position that he was in. Dawn too, eyes wide, realized that she was on top of Lucas, and he was hugging her to his body.

Quickly, they untangled themselves (blushing all the way) and stood up to face Team Galactic. Dawn was trying to think of what to do, when a voice suddenly appeared in her head. It was just like the one in the pink dimension.

_You have given me the Lustrous Orb. You have given me back a part of myself. I am in your debt, and I seem to be connected to you. I will help you if you ever need it. Simply call for me, and I will come._

Dawn shook her head. _I hope that that voice was real,_ she thought, Team Galactic turned on the two.

"Where did you hide it?" shrieked Jupiter. "Tell us, or we will –"

"Palkia, help me!" cried Dawn.

A tear in space appeared just above Dawn's head, revealing a stunningly pink dimension with floating pearls. From its depths came a huge blue creature.

From its depths, Dialga arose.

"What?" cried Dawn. "You're Dialga, not Palkia!"

The three Commanders of Team Galactic were stunned.

"Does this mean that Charon has succeeded?" said Saturn.

"Impossible! I have the Adamant Orb right now!" cried Mars. "He couldn't be doing anything with it!"

Lucas stared at the huge creature and felt a tug at his soul and heart. "Dialga," he breathed. And then Mars shrieked.

For the first time in their lives (obviously), Dawn and Lucas saw the shimmering Adamant Orb. It was not like the Lustrous Orb at all, other than the fact that it was filled with the same swirling lights and colors. It was faceted, and had many smooth surfaces. Dialga roared, and when the Orb touched it, the Orb vanished in a flash of blue light.

"That's what happened when I gave the Lustrous Orb to Palkia," said Dawn. Lucas looked at her incredulously.

"You gave the Lustrous Orb to _Palkia?_" he said. "Palkia lives in a different _dimension!_"

"I know, but the Orb took me there. Remember? The pink dimension with floating pearls?"

"Well, if that's true, then why did Dialga come from Palkia's dimension?" said Lucas. "Professor Carolina said that they and their dimensions were never meant to meet!"

"Look!" cried Jupiter, pointing into the pink rift still in the sky. A large pink Pokémon was surfacing from the rip. When it was out of the portal, the portal closed.

This time, it really was Palkia.

"Palkia!" cried Dawn. "Help use get rid of these three goons!"

Palkia looked at Dialga, then at Dawn, and roared.

The gem on Palkia's shoulder glowed and collected pink energy.

The gray structure on Dialga's back grew and Dialga opened its mouth to collect blue energy.

Finally, Palkia slashed a pink crescent of energy in the air that flew at Dialga with huge force; Dialga responded by firing off an indigo beam from an orb of energy at its mouth.

The two attacks blasted each other with huge force, neither stronger than the other. Team Galactic stared in horror and awe, as did Professor Carolina, Dawn, and Lucas.

And then two more rips in space appeared, one behind Dialga, and one behind Palkia. The one behind Dialga was blue and was filled with diamonds. The rift behind Palkia was pink and filled with pearls.

Suddenly, both Dialga and Palkia directed their attacks at the three Commander's feet, blowing them sky high into the air with their unconscious Pokémon.

And then they vanished into their respective portals, with two last glances at Dawn and Lucas.

Dialga glanced at Lucas, before turning away.

Palkia glanced at Dawn, before turning away.

They vanished deep into the depths of their own dimensions, the rips in space disappearing with them.

Dawn glanced at Lucas nervously.

"So… do you think we should tell Professor Rowan what happened?"


	11. Chapter 11

Sinnoh Adventures

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter Eleven

"So, that's what happened, hmm?"

Lucas, Dawn, and Professor Carolina were all sitting around a video phone in the Pokémon Center, discussing the current events with Professor Rowan. He was writing down all of the important details, asking an occasional question every now and then.

"Yes, sir," said Lucas.

"Well, then," said Professor Rowan, "now that _both _Orbs are gone, although this time, back to their original owners, I see no need for you two to stay in Celestic Town anymore. I'm sorry to have interrupted your journey, but you can go to Veilstone City now."

"Right!" said Dawn.

"Professor Rowan," said Professor Carolina, "I thought that you were sending another young child to help me against Team Galactic. He didn't get here in time, but you did say he was coming, right?"

"Oh, yes!" said Professor Rowan. "I forgot! Dawn, Lucas, I told Barry to get to Celestic Town as well. He took a little bit longer that you two because he had already gone back to Hearthome City from Veilstone City when I contacted him, so he must have come full circle to try and get to Celestic. Well, if you two see him on the road, please tell him that he can go to Pastoria City."

"Alright," said Lucas. "Anything else, Professor?"

"No."

"Alright, then. Bye, Professor –!"

"GET THIS STUPID THING AWAY FROM ME!"

Dawn and Lucas both whipped around as a boy with blonde, anti-gravity hair charged into the building, followed by a circular disc of what seemed to be steel. Another person charged into the Pokémon Center; this time, it was Cynthia.

"Cynthia!" cried Lucas and Dawn.

"OH, SURE, YOU TAKE NOTICE OF HER BUT WHAT ABOUT _ME_, I MEAN, COME ON, I'VE GOT A HUNK OF METAL CHASING ME AND ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS THAT CYNTHIA JUST STEPPED IN THE DOOR AND WOULD YOU _HURRY UP AND GET RID OF THIS THING?"_

Dawn and Lucas both turned wearily to face the eccentric boy. "Barry, what are you doing?" asked Dawn.

"Well," said Lucas thoughtfully, "I would say that he's running from a Bronzor." Lucas then pulled out his Pokédex to quickly scan the Pokémon.

_Bronzor, the Bronze Pokémon:_

_There are researchers who believe this Pokémon reflected like a mirror in the distant past._

"WELL THAT'S JUST GREAT, BUT WHAT YOU NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW IS GET IT OFF OF ME!" yelled Barry frantically as he tried to escape Bronzor and its glowing eyes.

"Well, technically," said Professor Carolina, "that Bronzor is not _on _you. It is simply chasing you."

"WOULD SOMEONE HURRY UP AND STOP THIS THING? IF NO ONE DOES, I'LL FINE YOU ALL 100 MILLION –!"

Barry wearily collapsed onto the floor.

"Barry!" said Dawn, running over and picking up his head. "Are you oka – I can't _believe_ you! You're asleep!"

"No, I think that was Bronzor," said Lucas, who had also come over. "I think that Bronzor must have used Hypnosis on him to put him to sleep."

"Honestly, what is all the ruckus?" Nurse Joy had also wandered over after staring speechlessly at the crazed Barry.

"This Bronzor was chasing Barry," said Cynthia. "I saw it chasing him just as I got here, and then he ran into the Pokémon Center."

"Oh, hello, Cynthia," said Professor Carolina. "I'm glad that you finally got here."

"Yes, but I was late, wasn't I, Grandma?"

"Yes, you were, but these two," Professor Carolina gestured towards Dawn and Lucas, who were currently trying to awaken Barry (also known as hitting him repeatedly for the fun of it), "managed to hold Team Galactic off."

"Yes, I know, Grandma," said Cynthia. "Professor Rowan told me."

Lucas got up and left Dawn to enthusiastically slap – err, _awaken_ Barry. He walked over to the floating Bronzor and inspected it.

"Why were you chasing Barry?" asked Lucas. "Did he do something wrong?"

"Bronzor," said Bronzor, looking at Barry. "Bron, bron, bronzor."

"You were bored?" asked Lucas. "Well, that's a great reason and all, but you really shouldn't do stuff like that."

Bronzor's eyes hardened and its eyes glowed again.

"Uh oh," breathed Lucas as he leapt backwards.

"Bronzor!"

A multicolored swirl flew from Bronzor's eyes, white circles on the inside holding the beam together.

"Shellos, use Ice Beam!" said Lucas, tossing Shellos's PokéBall. Shellos quickly intercepted the colorful attack from Bronzor with his own Ice Beam, and then stood (if that's what you would call a Shellos on the floor) ready for battle.

"What attack was that, by the way?" asked Dawn, taking a brief break from hitting Barry.

"Extrasensory," said Cynthia, sitting down at a chair with Professor Carolina to watch Lucas battle (inside the Pokémon Center…). "It's a Psychic-type attack."

"Shellos, use Water Pulse!" said Lucas.

Bronzor quickly used Extrasensory again to combat the Water-type attack. Both attacks disintegrated, but Shellos launched a Mud-Bomb attack at Bronzor before the two attacks even burst apart.

To Lucas's surprise, however, the Mud-Bomb attack completely missed its mark, with no blob of mud even coming close to Bronzor.

"What just happened?" asked Dawn.

"That's one of Bronzor's Abilities," said Cynthia.

"Yes, that's right," said Professor Carolina. "The Ability known as Levitate gives the Pokémon immunity to all Ground-type moves. The other Ability that Bronzor may have is known as Heatproof, which halves the damage taken from Fire-type attacks."

"Alright, then, Ground-type moves won't work," said Lucas. "Use Hidden Power and then Ice Beam!"

The attacks merged and resulted in a frozen Hidden Power that sped towards Bronzor. Bronzor simply conjured a transparent screen in front of it.

"That's Light Screen!" said Lucas as he watched the frozen Hidden Power simply bounce off of the screen.

Shellos, who had gotten hit by some of the shining spheres, glared at Bronzor and started to create a white ball of energy at his mouth. Straightening his neck, Shellos fired the beam straight into the ceiling. A moment later, a deluge of rain showered the interior of the Pokémon Center.

"Oh my!" said Nurse Joy, sheltering herself under her desk as her Chansey ran around it frantically.

Dawn dragged Barry's limp form underneath a table before throwing herself next to Cynthia and Professor Carolina underneath a different table.

"Shellos, of all the times you choose to learn a new move, you pick now to learn Rain Dance?" asked Lucas exasperatedly as he attempted to shelter himself from the pouring rain. Sighing, he said, "Oh well. Might as well take advantage of it. Shellos, use Water Pulse!"

Shellos conjured up another Water Pulse, this one much larger that the first one, and shot it straight at Bronzor, who tried to block it with Extrasensory. However, the Water Pulse overwhelmed Bronzor's Extrasensory and blasted Bronzor into the wall.

"What does Rain Dance even do besides make everyone miserable and wet?" asked Dawn grumpily.

"Well, basically, it powers up Water-type moves and downgrades Fire-type moves," said Cynthia. "Interesting that it would work inside a building, though."

"Now, Shellos, use Water Pulse again!" said Lucas.

After a relentless onslaught of multiple Water Pulses that were strengthened by the Rain Dance, Bronzor collapsed. Lucas quickly took the opportunity to throw a PokéBall and capture it.

"Congrats!" said Dawn cheerfully as the rain dwindled. "Now you've got a Bronzor on your team!"

Lucas nodded happily, but then grimaced, wondering what his father would say about him catching a simple Pokémon like Bronzor. "I hope that Shellos didn't cause any trouble with Rain Dance," he said worriedly as he checked Bronzor's moves, glancing at his, and everyone else's dripping clothing.

"Oh, it's fine!" grimaced a soaking Nurse Joy as she climbed out from under the desk. "Just fine!" she repeated as her teeth ground together to produce a fine white powder. "Just – oh!"

Dawn gasped as the Egg she received from Cynthia started to glow. "What's happening to it?" she asked, gently taking it out of its case.

"That Egg is going to hatch!" said Nurse Joy, running over and taking it from Dawn's hands determinedly. "Chansey, let's go!"

Nurse Joy sped off into a room, closely followed by Dawn, Lucas, Cynthia, and Professor Carolina.

By the time everyone else had entered the room, Nurse Joy had set the Egg on a table, attached it to multiple machines, and listened to it with a stethoscope as Chansey ran around securing the equipment and machinery.

"Alright, it seems to be doing fine," said Nurse Joy as she undid all of the equipment. "Now we have to wait for it to hatch!"

Slowly, the light from the Egg pulsed brighter and then faster as well. Finally, when the Egg was simply a shining oval, it slowly changed shape into that of a baby –

"It's so cute!" squealed Dawn.

"Yes, it is," laughed Cynthia. "Dawn, that's the Pokémon known as Togepi."

"Toge?" questioned the small Pokémon. "Toge!"

"Hmm," said Lucas, pulling out his Pokédex.

_Togepi, the Spike Ball Pokémon:_

_It transforms the kindness and joy of others into happiness, which it stores in its shell._

"It's quite a rare Pokémon, and requires lots of attention, so take care of it carefully!" said Cynthia to Dawn, who was already checking Togepi's summary on her Pokédex.

"Okay, so you're a boy, plus your Ability is Serene Grace, and you know Growl and Charm!" said Dawn. "Oh, you're so cute!" she said one last time before calling Togepi back into his PokéBall.

"Well, seeing as you two seem to be all set, I'll be leaving now," said Cynthia. "I guess that I'll bump into you guys some time later!"

Everyone crowded out of the room and waved good-bye to Cynthia as she took off with her Garchomp. Dawn, noticing that Barry was still asleep, sighed, "Nurse Joy, would you take care of Barry until he wakes up?"

Nurse Joy nodded. "I didn't think that Hypnosis would take this long to wear off…"

"That's just Barry," said Dawn wearily. "He falls asleep and then stays that way for hours, no matter _why _he fell asleep in the first place."

"All right, then. Good-bye! Have fun on your adventure!" said Nurse Joy as Lucas and Dawn left the building to continue on their journey. Dawn's eyes were shining.

Next up, Veilstone City!

…

"So this is Veilstone City," said Dawn, staring at the gray landscape. "It's very…"

"Dreary," finished Lucas.

"But," said Dawn, eyes widening and alighting, "dreary doesn't mean bad!" She sped off towards a huge building that towered above the others. Sighing, Lucas dragged the drooling Dawn away from the huge Veilstone Department Store by her scarf.

"We'll check it out later, right now we've got to –!"

"What?" said Dawn, turning at Lucas's sudden stop. "What's wrong?"

"Do they follow us, or do we follow them?" said Lucas exasperatedly as he pointed at the northern part of the city. Dawn followed his finger, eyes wide, as she caught sight of a very familiar symbol.

"Team Galactic? In Veilstone?" said Dawn, amazed. "What are they doing?"

"I don't know, but I bet that they'll be trouble," muttered Lucas. "Come on, we need to get a room in the Pokémon Center."

Quickly, the duo signed up for a room and then ventured out warily into the town, as though expecting Team Galactic to come out and kidnap them again.

"Well, I'm going to the Gym," said Lucas, gesturing towards the building in the west side of town. "It looks like it's a dojo."

"What type does the Gym Leader use?" asked Dawn.

"Maylene uses Fighting-type Pokémon," answered Lucas. "She won't really have an advantage over us, unless you use your Buneary."

Dawn nodded and followed Lucas to the Gym. Upon entering, they were immediately greeted by four men.

"Hi there!" they said simultaneously. "We're the Karate Quads, and we're Maylene's students!"

They quickly introduced themselves to Dawn and Lucas, calling themselves Jeffery, Darren, Rafael, and Colby.

"I assume that you're here to challenge Maylene," said Jeffery. "To get to her, go through this door, then go through the rightmost door in the next room, then follow the path that leads to the left door in the room after that, and then jump off a cliff."

"What?" said Lucas.

"Oh, Jeffery, stop it!" said a girl with pink hair. She emerged from a door on the side of the room. "I'm sorry if those four have caused any trouble," she said as she bowed to Lucas and Dawn, who bowed back. "I'm Maylene."

"I'm Dawn, and this is Lucas," said Dawn. "We'd like to challenge you to a Gym Battle!"

Maylene smiled. "That's fine with me! I was just talking with some friends from Hoenn, so that's why I told those four to watch the Gym."

"Hoenn?" questioned Dawn.

"It's another region," said Lucas. "It has a lot of different Pokémon than we do."

Dawn nodded. Maylene gestured for the two to follow her, and they did as she told, eventually winding up in a room with a simple field – all wood, and no obstacles.

"Tate, Liza, I'm sorry," called Maylene. Two people at the edge of the room looked over at Maylene and smiled.

"No need to worry," said the girl. The boy nodded.

"It's fine. Challengers?" he questioned as he saw Dawn and Lucas. Maylene nodded.

Dawn inspected their clothing curiously, noting that they were practically identical, except that the girl had longer hair. They both wore light blue clothes, with the shirt pinned at the neck with a red button.

"Are you twins?" she asked curiously. The girl giggled slightly.

"Yeah, I'm the eldest, and this is my _little_ brother."

"I am not!" said the boy angrily. "We're twins!"

"So? I was still born first."

"These are Tate," said Maylene, gesturing towards the boy, "and Liza," she finished, pointing at the girl. "They're Gym –!"

Liza quickly covered the girl's mouth with a hand. "Well, well! Challengers for Maylene?" she questioned. Dawn and Lucas nodded.

"Would you mind battling us first?" asked Tate. "We haven't battled anyone in a while."

"Uh," said Dawn. "Why not?"

"Great!" said Liza. "Let's make it a double battle, me and Tate versus you two!"

"That's fine with us, right Dawn?" said Lucas. Dawn nodded her consent. Maylene shoved Liza's hand away and said that she would be the judge.

"Alright, let's go!" said Liza once everyone was situated. "Lunatone, I choose you!"

"Solrock, help us out!" said Tate, tossing his PokéBall as well.

"Wow!" said Lucas in amazement as the two Meteorite Pokémon appeared. "Those two Pokémon can't be found in Sinnoh! This will be great for Professor Rowan!" Lucas quickly scanned the two Pokémon on his Pokédex, as did Dawn.

_Lunatone, the Meteorite Pokémon:_

_Because it turns active on nights of the full moon, it is said to have some link to the lunar phases._

_Solrock, the Meteorite Pokémon:_

_A new Pokémon species, rumored to be from the sun. It gives off light while spinning._

"Alright, then," said Tate.

"What will your two Pokémon be?" asked Liza.

"Piplup, you're up!" said Dawn.

"Shellos, you too!" said Lucas.

"Alright, battle begin!" said Maylene.

"Piplup, use Bubblebeam on Lunatone!" commanded Dawn.

"Tate?" said Liza expectantly.

"Got your back!" he said. "Solrock, use Sandstorm to protect Lunatone!"

To Lucas and Dawn's shock, Solrock floated in front of Lunatone and released a huge blast of sand from its body at the bubbles, effectively popping them all.

"Now, double Tackle!" commanded Tate and Liza.

Their Pokémon flew threw the sight-obscuring Sandstorm easily and bashed Shellos and Piplup. Shellos, in retaliation, shot a Water Pulse at Solrock, but Liza quickly intervened by having Lunatone use Light Screen to protect Solrock.

"They work together so well," said Lucas. "We'll have to do the same," he said, turning to Dawn, who nodded. "I've got an idea. Have Piplup use Brine."

The two finally combined their attacks by having Shellos use Water Pulse while Piplup strengthened it with Brine. The double attack flew straight at Solrock and Lunatone, but Tate and Liza were unfazed.

"Nice try, but that's not going to stop us!" said Liza.

"No way!" said Tate.

"Double Psychic!" they finished together.

Solrock and Lunatone's eyes glowed blue as they took control of Piplup and Shellos's attacks and reversed them, but Shellos quickly protected himself and Piplup with his now almost-trademark Water Pulse-Ice Beam shield.

"Now, Shellos, use Rain Dance!" said Lucas.

"Smart move!" said Liza as a torrential rain blew down on the battlefield.

"Yeah, since both your Pokémon are Water-types," said Tate.

"Why don't we show them some tricks of our own?" said Liza. Tate grinned.

"Solrock, use Sandstorm again!"

"Lunatone, use Ice Beam into the Sandstorm!"

Everyone watched as the swirling sand was hit by the flashing Ice Beam. Quickly, ice collected around every single particle of sand in the attack, until it looked as though Solrock was using a hailstorm instead of a Sandstorm. Solrock directed this huge attack at Shellos and Piplup, but Lucas and Dawn quickly made a shield of their own. Piplup used Whirlpool, and then flipped it so that it covered Shellos and himself. Then, Shellos froze the huge cone into ice.

The strong shield protected them from Lunatone and Solrock's attacks, but they quickly counterattacked.

"Solrock, use Psychic to destroy that shield!" said Tate, while Liza had Lunatone ready an Ice Beam.

Solrock lifted up the ice shield, leaving Piplup and Shellos extremely vulnerable, which Lunatone quickly took advantage of by firing off a chilling Ice Beam to freeze the two in place.

"Buy me some time!" said Tate. "Their Rain Dance is going to affect Solarbeam's charging time."

Liza nodded and had Lunatone continue to use Ice Beam on the hunk of ice that already surrounded Piplup and Shellos, increasing the amount of ice that trapped them while Solrock started to slowly charge its Solarbeam attack. Lunatone finally used Psychic on Piplup and Shellos to forcefully extract them from within the ice, causing heavy damage, before throwing them to the floor.

"They're stalling!" said Lucas. "Tate's Solrock is charging a Solarbeam!"

"I'll handle that," said Dawn. "You take on Lunatone!"

"Shellos, use Water Pulse with Hidden Power on Lunatone!" said Lucas.

"Piplup, use Brine on Solrock!" commanded Dawn.

"Lunatone, use Ice Beam and then Light Screen!" said Liza.

Lunatone quickly intervened with both of their attacks, first freezing Shellos's Water Pulse and then floating in front of Solrock and using Light Screen to deflect Brine. Undeterred, Shellos used Ice Beam on Lunatone, which was countered by Light Screen once again. Piplup took the opportunity to shoot a Bubblebeam from underneath Lunatone and Solrock, but Lunatone managed to deflect Shellos's Ice Beam downwards, straight into Piplup and his Bubblebeam.

"Piplup!" cried Dawn as he was frozen on the spot.

"Alright!" said Tate, as the rain dwindled and stopped. "Now, Solrock!"

"Lunatone, use Psychic!" said Liza.

Lunatone brought Shellos and Piplup together, and the two Poekmon winced as Lunatone added a strong Ice Beam to the attacks assailing them. Cowering slightly, they braced themselves for the Solarbeam and Ice Beam.

A huge flash of light, followed by a colossal cloud of smoke, burst through the room. "What?"

"Impossible!"

Piplup and Shellos were completely fine, the ice around Piplup having been defrosted somehow. And then –

"It's all your fault!" said Liza. "If you hadn't intercepted my Ice Beam –"

"Well, your angle was all off! If you hadn't been at that angle my attack wouldn't have done anything to yours!" yelled Tate.

"_Angles_ don't matter! It's the timing that matters! I bought you all that time to charge up a super-strong Solarbeam and you go and waste it by hitting Lunatone's Ice Beam!"

"Well, if you hadn't angled the attack so much, then both our attacks would have hit their mark!"

Maylene, Dawn, and Lucas stared at the squabbling siblings. Maylene laughed slightly. "They always argue when their attacks intercept each other. It doesn't happen as often as it used to, but when it does, this is what happens."

"What should we do?" asked Dawn. Lucas shrugged.

"Shellos, use Water Pulse!"

Lunatone was taken down by the attack, while Solrock was impaled by a strong stream of water from Piplup's Brine.

"Oh, great!" said Liza as Lunatone and Solrock fell to the ground. "Lunatone!"

"Solrock!" said Tate. "See what happened now?" he asked, annoyed.

"Well, hurry up and get back on track!" snapped Liza.

"Fine!" yelled Tate. "Solrock, use Tackle on Piplup!"

"Lunatone, you do the same!"

Piplup jumped, scared, as it realized that Lunatone and Solrock were flying at him from opposite directions. Shellos managed to save Piplup in time by creating a tower of water underneath him first with Water Pulse, leaving Lunatone and Solrock to smash into each other with Tackle.

"Stop it!" said Liza angrily. "You're just getting in the way!"

"You're the one getting in the way!" retorted Tate. "I don't need you to help me!"

Once again, Dawn and Lucas took the opportunity to attack both Solrock and Lunatone, with strong attacks consisting of Whirlpool and Bubblebeam from Piplup and Water Pulse and Ice Beam from Shellos.

The two Meteorite Pokémon were thrown backwards, almost unconscious. They unsteadily floated back up, preparing to take on Piplup and Shellos again.

"Alright, stop it!" yelled Liza. "We've got to work together!"

After a few silent seconds, Tate nodded. "We need to be synchronized! And that should be easy, seeing as we're twins!"

Liza grinned. "Let's get back in the battle! Lunatone, use Psychic on Piplup!"

"Solrock, you use Psychic on Shellos!" said Tate.

The two Pokémon fired off blue beams from their eyes, which were intercepted by Shellos's Ice Beam and Piplup's Bubblebeam. Lunatone and Solrock were considerably weakened, as were their attacks. Shellos and Piplup finally pulled off a success by blasting the two out of the air.

And to finish, Shellos launched himself into the air and crashed down onto both Solrock and Lunatone simultaneously, his squishy, stretchable form spreading everywhere from the force of his descent.

"Body Slam, huh?" said Lucas, a side of his mouth lifted into a grin.

"Lunatone and Solrock and unable to battle!" yelled Maylene. "Piplup and Shellos win! The victory goes to Dawn and Lucas!"

"Woo-hoo!" cried Liza, stretching.

"We haven't had a battle that good in while!" agreed Tate.

"And for winning against us…" said Liza.

"We officially present you…" added Tate.

"The Mind Badge, from the Mossdeep Gym of Hoenn!" they announced simultaneously, each holding out a pink, heart-shaped Badge in their outstretched hands.

Lucas and Dawn were dumbfounded. "You're Gym Leaders?" asked Dawn. They nodded happily and placed the Badges into Dawn and Lucas's hands.

"We know that it won't help you at all in Sinnoh," said Tate regretfully.

"But it'll at least serve a commemorative purpose that you beat the Mossdeep City Gym Leaders!" said Liza happily.

"Why are you both Gym Leaders?" asked Lucas curiously. "I thought the point of a Gym Leader was to only have one Gym _Leader."_

Tate shrugged. "We're not exactly sure how we wounded up as co-Gym Leaders either, but we did, so any challenger who comes to our Gym –"

"Must battle by our rules and have a double battle with us!" interrupted Liza.

"Hey, speaking of which," said Tate, "if you two ever decide to come to Hoenn, those Badges will help you! You won't have to beat us again, unless you want to, but we won't lose next time!"

"That's true!" said Liza. "So they do have a use."

"Anyways," interrupted Maylene, "are you two planning on staying?"

Tate and Liza nodded. "We'll be staying for a few days, maybe do some sight-seeing before we head off to visit the others," said Liza.

"The others?" questioned Lucas.

"The other Gym Leaders," said Tate. "We visit them every now and then. We've gone through Kanto already, and now we're halfway through Sinnoh!"

"I wish I could visit all the others," sighed Maylene. "Instead, I have to sit in this Gym and train nonstop…"

Everyone else laughed. Then, after Dawn and Lucas set their battling times, everyone left the Gym, waving good-bye to Maylene, who called out,

"I'll be waiting!"


End file.
